Talk:Effects of ionizing radiation in spaceflight

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Jssteil (talk) 02:25, 28 August 2012 (UTC)

Career limit
Just to say, it doesn't seem to have any examples of the results of the calculations. What is the typical career limit of men and women in Sieverts?

That information is available. Will see if I can find a source. Robert Walker (talk) 15:20, 3 August 2015 (UTC)

Online wiki version of this text
There is an online version of this page here, which has a fair bit of extra material and probably would be more up to date:

https://humanresearchwiki.jsc.nasa.gov/index.php?title=Risk_of_Radiation_Carcinogenesis

Robert Walker (talk) 15:20, 3 August 2015 (UTC)

anything non-theoretical?
Everything in this article is on theoretical models, setting limits for astronaut exposure based on theoretical models, etc. Is there any actual data about cancer or other diseases of people who've spent a lot of time in space? Quite a few have been up in various space stations for months or in a few cases a year or more. — Preceding unsigned comment added by OsamaBinLogin (talk • contribs) 05:25, 18 October 2015 (UTC)


 * Unfortunately, the safety limits are all based on Linear_no-threshold_model. Germany limits exposure to 400mSv/lifetime which theoretically results in 4% increased cancer risk, but this again, is theoretical. In reality, no one has cared to do low-level exposure experiments to determine if LNT is accurate or if radiation can be beneficial at priming immune system reactions and LNT modelling is actually harmful. Similarly to people's views of antioxidants -- antioxidants are present in healthy flesh but when it's damaged, taking anti-oxidants can block the immune system from cleaning up the damaged areas. Think of it like putting a fresh coat of paint on a cracked wall so the inspector cannot see it.


 * So, since no cohort of astronauts or cosmonauts are displaying any increased tendency for cancers (as opposed to Visual_impairment_due_to_intracranial_pressure or Spaceflight_osteopenia), the discussion here remains mostly theoretical.2A02:810D:9440:2DD4:D094:1BFF:FE9E:83AE (talk) 15:48, 24 April 2021 (UTC)


 * I added in a section on measured cancer rates, citing a news article and the 2017 study that examined cancer rates in U.S. astronauts and Soviet and Russian cosmonauts. I think it's important to have that as documented information on what the observed rates are in addition to the theory. John Kim (talk) 08:46, 8 May 2021 (UTC)


 * I note that while no one has done deliberate experiments on people to test LNT, there are tests of people with higher exposure. The most unique was the case of Radioactive_scrap_metal in Taiwan in the 1980s, where 10,000 residents were exposed over a ten year period to varying levels of external radiation ranging from 120mSv up to 4000mSv (ten times the German lifetime dose). Despite this, the residents had an overall lower rate of cancer than the general population. There are also areas of high natural radiation to test LNT. These are noted in Radiation_hormesis John Kim (talk) 09:03, 8 May 2021 (UTC)