an overview of the nasa space radiation laboratory

NASA Space Radia*on Laboratory A. Rusek

Bldg. 911B Brookhaven Na*onal Laboratory

Upton, NY 11973

[email protected], (631)344-‐5830

FISO Telecon 4/1/15 hRp://spirit.as.utexas.edu/~fiso/archivelist.htm

Origins

•  Mo*va*on: Ground based ion source for simula*ng solar and cosmic ray radia*on to study its affects on biology. –  Assess the risks. –  Study countermeasures.

•  Funding: NASA ($33M) •  Know how: BNL (DOE) •  Project started 2000, commissioned 2003. •  On *me, on budget.

NSRL Brookhaven National Laboratory 1

Beam Design

•  Designed based on the experience gained through work at LBL and BNL (AGS) (dose-‐based cutoff) –  Beam as uniform as possible (±10% was typical)

–  Usually round beam

–  Cutoff achieved by means of ion chambers/computer/extrac*on controls

•  NSRL beam is geared towards (but not restricted to) biology work (dose-‐based cutoff) –  Beam uniformity in the useful area is ±2.5%

–  Square beam (during biology work)

–  Cutoff achieved by means of ion chambers/computer/extrac*on controls


Beam

•  Tandem/Linac/EBIS to Booster •  Booster to NSRL beam line by slow extrac*on

•  Beam shaped in the 100 m beam line and •  Delivered to the NSRL target room (300ms spill every 4 sec)

EBIS (ions, 20 MeV)

Tandem (ions, 20 MeV/n)

Slow extrac*on into NSRL

Booster synchrotron

(up to 1000 MeV/n)

Shape and deliver to the target room

NSRL Brookhaven National Laboratory

Linac (protons, 200 MeV)

3

Schedule

•  3 runs, or campaigns a year: Spring, Summer and Fall •  6-‐9 weeks each

–  Total of about 24 weeks per year, typically.

–  spring and summer have been run as one 16 week long run for the past 3 years

•  Irradia*ons take place during 1-‐2 shiis daily, on week days only (almost true) –  Leave a cushion for machine down *me

–  Allow for lab *me following irradia*on


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Range in water (m

m)

LET in water (KeV/µm)

H 1500

1000 800 700 600 500 400

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He

C O Ne

Si Cl Ar Ti Fe

Kr Nb

Xe Ta

Au

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NSRL NASA Space Radia*on Laboratory

RHIC Relatevis*c Heavy Ion Collider

AGS Alterna*ng Gradient Synchrotron

TANDEM Ion Source

LINAC Linear Accelerator Proton Source

BOOSTER Synchrotron

EBIS Electron Beam Ion Source

Medical Department Labs and User Support


Support Building

•  Beam and dosimetry control center •  Experiment staging area

•  Cell labs (3) separated from animal labs (2) •  Physics support lab (1)


C

C

C A A

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12” beam pipe

8” beam pipe

R-‐Line: From Booster to NSRL

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1.0 -‐ 5.0 cm (fwhm)

5cm x 5cm -‐ 20cm x 20cm


NSRL Beam Shapes and Sizes

Beams can be both slow-‐extracted (300 – 500 ms) Or fast-‐extracted (<1µs), once per 2-‐4 s cycle

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Target Room

Size: 20’ x 20’

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Calibra*on

•  NIST-‐traceable calibra*on chambers •  Self calibra*on against scin*lla*on counters – Use heavy ions where overlap is good – Contact made through dE/dx tables

– Agreement with NIST-‐traceables within 2%

12

P, 200 MeV

C, 300 MeV/n

Ti, 1000 MeV/n


Digital Beam Imager

Beam


300 MeV/n Fe

Binary Filter

PlasRc caps Water-‐filled

Empty

DBI Screen

Beam view


Fe 300

0.0 mm 35.5 mm

37.0 mm 36.5 mm

36.0 mm

37.5 mm

38.5 mm 39.5 mm 41.5 mm 18

Single Eye Exposure

•  Right eyes of three rats at a *me.

collimator


Single Eye Exposure

•  Right eyes of three rats at a *me. •  Two plates, 9 tubes, for

streamlined opera*on.

•  Lots of flexibility, easy alignment.


Special Beams

•  Time-‐structured beams •  “smooth” beam •  10-‐60Hz beam

•  Fast-‐extracted beam •  Beam extracted in one booster

cycle, in about 800 ns.

20 Hz

“Smooth”

60 Hz

20 Hz

FEB

FEB 800 ns

Ion Chamber

Scin*llator NSRL Brookhaven National Laboratory 21

Space Environment

Requirements

•  Lower dose rates •  Longer exposures (chronic) •  Mixed fields and energies •  Higher upper energy

Response

•  Specialty imaging and dosimetry

•  Exposure incubtors •  Rapid energy changing •  Rapid ion changing •  Beam line upgrade to 1.5

GeV/n


•  Can image the beam at very low fluence

• 2 Fe/cm2

• 1,000 p/cm2

•  Coupled with schin*lla*on counter cutoff • can deliver “homeopathic” doses – 100tracks/cm2

30,000 p/cm2 22,500 Fe/cm2

Pixel Ion Chamber with Gain

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Large Beam

•  60x60 cm2 (50x50 cm2 useful area).

•  Large pixel chamber (8x8) to monitor beam uniformity.

•  Exposure incubator for long exposures.


SPE SimulaRon

Requires

•  Fast energy changing –  Directly from the booster

–  By binary filter •  Large beam

–  For long, low dose-‐rate exposures

“spin-‐off”

•  Fast energy changes –  Easier opera*ons –  Easier scheduling


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FracRon

of Total Dose

Energy (MeV)

August 1972 SPE

NSRL 1972 SPE

An SPE SimulaRon

Used 50 MeV to represent 0 – 50 MeV 60 MeV to represent 50 – 60 MeV 70 MeV to represent 60 – 70 MeV 80 MeV to represent 70 – 80 MeV And so on….


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Depth (µm)

Dose (arbitrary)

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GCR SimulaRon

Requires

•  Fast ion changes. •  Availability of many ion

species.

•  Upper energy of at least 1.5 GeV/n.

•  Large beam. –  For long, low dose-‐rate

exposures

“spin-‐off”

•  Ul*mately we should be able to change ions from NSRL dosimetry room(!)


Type of Studies and InvesRgaRons

•  Biology >90% –  Tending more and more to the lower doses now –  Ion, LET, Energy studies –  Cancer, CNS, Cardio-‐Vascular, BPO, Acute effects…..

•  Shielding •  Materials (radia*on hardness etc.) •  Electronics (radia*on hardness etc.)

–  NASA, NRO, others •  Instrument tes*ng and calibra*on

–  NASA, others. •  Therapy research

–  Limited to physics and biology


When not providing service

•  Fragmenta*on Cross sec*ons. –  4He, 3He, C, O, on elemental targets and water

•  Detector and readout developments. –  Specialty ion-‐chambers, adapta*on of commercial readout for medical

imaging to mul*-‐channel ion chamber.

•  Calibra*on and tes*ng. –  Example: ZDC’s, water-‐based liquid scin*llator (BNL development)


ExisRng CapabiliRes

Beam •  Variety of shapes and sizes

–  Square beam from 5 to 50 cm

–  Round beam from 0.5 to 10 cm

•  Good uniformity (>95%) •  Many ions available

•  Wide energy range available

•  Slow-‐extracted beam

•  Fast-‐extracted beam

Dosimetry •  Good dynamic range

–  1 – 2000 rads/min (ion chambers)

–  < 1 rad/min (scin*llator)

•  Self calibra*on capabili*es •  Cutoff within >1% of total dose

•  Good imaging methods –  DBI

–  Ion chambers with gain


Missing CapabiliRes

Beam •  Sub cm pencil beam

•  Scanning capability •  Exposure vacuum chamber

Dosimetry


Thanks for your aaenRon!


an overview of the nasa space radiation laboratory

Documents

nsrl beam line

controls nsrl beam

nsrl booster synchrotron

beam tandemlinacebis

square beam

beam design

nsrl target room

round beam cuto