Vyacheslav Shurshakov, head of the radiation safety department of manned space flights at the Institute of Biomedical Problems of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IMBP), said that a person cannot live on the Moon base for more than two years. An excerpt from the talk held at the Science Cafe with the support of the Andrey Melnichenko Foundation.
“Now for astronauts throughout their careers, the norm of cosmic radiation is the same as for a nuclear industry worker or an X-ray room worker. That’s a thousand millisieverts for a lifetime. If we take this into account, an astronaut cannot live on the space station for more than four years. On the same Moon, in radiation conditions, a person will not be able to stay for more than two years, ”Shurshakov said.
According to him, it is due to the high level of radiation that it will not be possible to colonize the Moon, that is, to live on it fully. But man can protect himself from the harmful effects of cosmic radiation.
“Our planet also has a kind of spaceship and its own protection – the atmosphere. We can count it as a water column – that would be equivalent to 10 meters. It is not possible to provide such protection for the ship. However, if there is a lot of water on the satellite during lunar missions, a lunar base can be built on it. Lunar regolith enriched with water will well protect from radiation. Water perfectly slows down neutron fluxes, and such a place would be favorable in many ways,” said Shurshakov.