Dangers in space travel.

The space stations are also below what is the lower Van Allen belt, therefore, they are safe, in fact, the space stations are still protected by these belts and by the protective magnetic field of the Earth. They are not really in space, we call them space stations, because it almost looks pretty, but they are not really in space, they are still in an outer layer of the outer layers of the Earth's atmosphere and protected by the Earth's magnetic field and this is not going to happen on the Moon.

A lunar space station is planned to be built on the Moon, which will orbit the moon, apart from the base and this station would not be protected by the Earth's magnetic field, nor would the astronauts who were on the surface of the Moon be protected. So the question is, how dangerous is cosmic and solar radiation on the lunar surface?

The danger on the lunar surface depends as in the other case, it also depends on the times, the amount of time you have and the protection you have, on Earth we have the protection of the magnetic field and also the atmosphere, because the atmosphere also serves as a shield against cosmic radiation and solar radiation, but on the Moon, obviously, there is neither of those two things, curiously, the most precise measurements come from the Chinese mission Changa 4 in 2019, which recorded on average that the surface of the Moon receives about 200 times more radiation than the Earth's surface and 2.6 times more radiation than that received at the International Space station.

Look at the data, 2.6 times more radiation on the Moon than the international space station, this is a reference data to verify that the space stations are also still protected a little by the Earth's magnetic field, but on the Moon there is none, during the Apollo missions with the basic protections of the space suits and the eagle module, it has been calculated that the fatal dose for a human would be after accumulating radiation after several years, yes, it sounds a little impressive, but that's how it is. For up to more than 5 years, a human could be with protection similar to what they would have in the Eagle module of the Apollo mission and with their space suit for up to 5 years, even a little more, receiving doses of radiation, from that moment on it would be dangerous.

The problem is not the cosmic radiation if you do not stay more than 5 years, the problem is the solar storms, therein lies the tricky issue, solar storms completely change the panorama, you could receive a fatal dose in just a few days or a couple of weeks depending on the intensity of the solar storm and even with a catastrophic solar storm type G5 of those that occur from time to time every 20 years, something like that, you could receive a fatal dose in just a few hours, that with a basic shielding, type like those on the Apollo mission.

For that you have to build a lunar base and lunar bases are not as they sometimes appear with their glass greenhouses, with their windows looking at the earth and these beautiful things, no, they are not going to be like that. They are going to be bunkers, above is a design by the European Space Agency, the European Space Agency is within the Artemis program as well, so the experience they are developing to build a lunar base should be applied to the construction of that lunar base where NASA is going to be as well, that is, the part of the European Space Agency is to provide some technical support and also be a kind of architects when it comes to building that lunar base when it is built.

To be safe inside that lunar base you would have to have at least a coverage of between 10 to 20 cm of lunar regolith, lunar regolith is the dust and rocks of the moon, which could be easily moved because with a robot of this type of excavator, it will accumulate it on top of the structure of the base, for intense solar storms you need more, between 30 to 50 cm of coverage and to guarantee complete security for years and years, if it occurred to you to live there permanently, both from storms and constant cosmic radiation, the ideal would be a protection of 2 to 3 meters, therefore, the ideal habitats for humans on the Moon and Mars are also considered to be caves or volcanic tunnels.

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