Modeling the variations of Dose Rate measured by RAD during the first MSL Martian year: 2012-2014
Abstract
The Radiation Assessment Detector (RAD), on board Mars Science Laboratory's (MSL) rover Curiosity, measures the {energy spectra} of both energetic charged and neutral particles along with the radiation dose rate at the surface of Mars. With these first-ever measurements on the Martian surface, RAD observed several effects influencing the galactic cosmic ray (GCR) induced surface radiation dose concurrently: [a] short-term diurnal variations of the Martian atmospheric pressure caused by daily thermal tides, [b] long-term seasonal pressure changes in the Martian atmosphere, and [c] the modulation of the primary GCR flux by the heliospheric magnetic field, which correlates with long-term solar activity and the rotation of the Sun. The RAD surface dose measurements, along with the surface pressure data and the solar modulation factor, are analysed and fitted to empirical models which quantitatively demonstrate} how the long-term influences ([b] and [c]) are related to the measured dose rates. {Correspondingly we can estimate dose rate and dose equivalents under different solar modulations and different atmospheric conditions, thus allowing empirical predictions of the Martian surface radiation environment.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.1507.03473,
title = {Modeling the variations of Dose Rate measured by RAD during the first MSL Martian year: 2012-2014},
author = {Jingnan Guo and Cary Zeitlin and Robert F. Wimmer-Schweingruber and Scot Rafkin and Donald M. Hassler and Arik Posner and Bernd Heber and Jan Koehler and Bent Ehresmann and Jan K. Appel and Eckart Boehm and Stephan Boettcher and Soenke Burmeister and David E. Brinza and Henning Lohf and Cesar Martin and H. Kahanpaeae and Guenther Reitz},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1507.03473},
year = {2015}
}