Radiation on the dark side of the Moon

[Leovinus]

How does the harmful radiation compare on the dark side of the moon vs the lit side?&nbsp; Assuming that we had a lunar outpost somewhere other than the poles, the astronauts will have 14 days of darkness every month.&nbsp; If a huge solar flare occurred during this time, would the bulk of the Moon protect them?&nbsp; What about cosmic radiation?&nbsp; Will they have to spend their whole lives underground with only short EBAs? <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[qso1]

<p>Hey there Leovinus, good to see your back. We lost a lot of posters during the changover to the new software.</p><p>Good question. I would think the moon would shield astronauts from solar radiation on the far side during lunar darkness there. And conversely, on the near side when its dark there. Cosmic radiation is a little different. Non solar cosmic rad sources probably would pose the same problem to lunar crews on the far side as they would on the day side. Solar sources would be cut off by the moon itself.</p><p>Below is a pretty good link with some technical details on cosmic rays:</p><p>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmic_rays</p><p>Ultimately, we dont have enough data to know for sure AFAIK. I'm not certain how much data has been obtained on this phenomenon so far from lunar orbiters. More data will have to be gathered to refine that which is already known before putting a manned lunar outpost or base on the moon.&nbsp;</p> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><strong>My borrowed quote for the time being:</strong></p><p><em>There are three kinds of people in life. Those who make it happen, those who watch it happen...and those who do not know what happened.</em></p> </div>