Future explorers of Moon will be subjected to 2 to 3 times harmful radiations, new study explains

A new study has startlingly found that future explorers and astronauts of the lunar surface will have to brace themselves for two to three times more hazardous radiations in comparison to the present day astronauts who are lodged at the International Space Station. As a consequence of more hazardous radiations, astronauts will also have to protect themselves with thicker shelter walls for their safety, news agency PTI reported.

The latest measurement of radiation emitting out of the lunar surface was reported by China’s lander which is on the far side of the moon and holds significant value not only for NASA but also other space exploration agencies of the world. The finding about the harmful radiations from the lunar surface was published in the US journal Science Advances by a Chinese-German team.

Thomas Berger, a physicist with the German Space Agency’s medicine institute was quoted as saying that the finding could prove to be very helpful in understanding the potential risk to astronauts on the moon better.

Giving a rough estimate of the harmful radiations astronauts are subjected to Robert Wimmer-Schweingruber from the Christian-Albrechts University Kiel, Germany said that astronauts receive about 200 to 1000 times more radiations than people living on the Earth. In comparison to the passengers who are aboard a trans-Atlantic airline flight, the astronauts receive about five to ten times more radiations, the scientist said. However, he elucidated that in contrast to the passengers on the plane, astronauts are on the radar of the harmful rays for a substantially longer period of time.

The scientist also said that barring the region near the walls of the deep craters, all parts of the lunar surface emit the same amount of harmful radiations. NASA has said earlier this week that the astronauts under its new Artemis program will spend a week on the Lunar surface which is double the time the previous generation of astronauts spent on the Moon under the Apollo mission. NASA is looking ahead at the time horizon of about four years to launch the human space mission and expects its astronauts to enter the Moon by the end of 2024.