The Van Allen Belts

[A Random Kerbonaut]

Surely you all know the Van Allen Belts and the deadly radiation after them. How did Apollo astronauts not get fried from the rays?

Edited April 17, 2019 by A Random Kerbonaut

[Willer Kerman]

 

The time they spent in the belt was too short to have problems. The trajectories were also calculated to circumvent the inner belt.

Edited April 17, 2019 by Willer Kerman

[A Random Kerbonaut]

I meant OUT of the belt. Where all that radiation is,

like the Moon.

Edited April 17, 2019 by A Random Kerbonaut

[Willer Kerman]

 

Once again. They have been exposed for a few days, the only effect of which is increased chance of getting cancer.

 

It could have been fatal if they had been caught in a solar storm.

Edited April 17, 2019 by Willer Kerman

[ZooNamedGames]

Simply put-

VA belts are primarily atoms, with no electrons from the sun. That, in the VA belt, get caught and focused towards the Earth’s magnetic poles. The VA is donut shaped with the highest amounts towards the outer edges. Average levels of radiation was less than that of an x-ray per day.

How was that handled?

Apollo had hydrogen rich polymers in the command module. That absorbed rays as they traveled through them.

Also Apollo spent very little time in the higher radiation areas of the belt and altogether avoided the highest radiation levels of the belts.

Outside of the belts was relatively low, least compared to the concentrated regions of the VA belts. So the astronauts had a chance to recuperate after the intense hit of radiation to and from the moon 

Radiation wise they were safe and had little effect aside from lights seen in astronauts eyes.

Also astronauts flew to the moon during solar minimum, when solar activity was at its lowest. Further protecting the crew. In the event of a solar storm, there was nothing they could do. 

Astronauts had radiation sensors on them and the average per day levels were pretty low.

A channel on YouTube known as Curious Droid does a really good video on this. 

 

[Bill Phil]

You know the ISS flies through the Van Allen belts pretty regularly.

Specifically it flies through the South Atlantic Anomaly.

[ZooNamedGames]

1 minute ago, Bill Phil said:

You know the ISS flies through the Van Allen belts pretty regularly.

Specifically it flies through the South Atlantic Anomaly.

Which to translate, the SAA, is basically a region where there’s a polar reversal (magnetic north is south and magnetic south is north). This is due to the movement of liquid iron in the Earth’s core moving by a “jet stream” but of liquid iron. As it moves, so does the poles and their strength.

[StrandedonEarth]

10 hours ago, Willer Kerman said:

It could have been fatal if they had been caught in a solar storm.

In the James Michener novel Space, ...

Spoiler

the fictional Apollo 18 mission to the Far Side of the Moon was hit by a solar storm (sunspot swarm) while a moonwalk was occurring. The pair rushed back to the LEM and performed a hurried liftoff before finally succumbing to the radiation. The pilot in the CM watched the Altair lander crash on the surface while being protected by the mass of the SM facing the Sun.

There is a quote that sticks in my mind from that scene. While rushing back to the LEM, in the rover, it is noted that blacks, er, African-Americans, have a lightly higher resistance to radiation due to the pigments in their skin (I don't know if this is true). One of the pair is black, and the other says (from memory) "Move over brother, so I can sit in your shadow."

 

Edited April 17, 2019 by StrandedonEarth
Typo

[kerbiloid]

3 hours ago, StrandedonEarth said:

have a lightly higher resistance to radiation due to the pigments in their skin

Alas, it's just a little better anti-UV protection.
A spacesuit anyway protects from UV completely.

[YNM]

On 4/17/2019 at 8:41 AM, A Random Kerbonaut said:

How did Apollo astronauts not get fried from the rays?

I'm still wondering what do they hear when passing through it...

 

[Nightside]

1 hour ago, YNM said:

I'm still wondering what do they hear when passing through it...

 

I think that answers the question. To avoid the radiation astronauts just gotta JUMP!

[Brotoro]

I wonder how many times strangers came up to Dr. James Van Allen and offered to buy his belt.

[razark]

On 4/16/2019 at 8:41 PM, A Random Kerbonaut said:

How did Apollo astronauts not get fried from the rays?

The same way people in Antarctica manage not to freeze.

By using appropriate protective measures.

[kerbiloid]

Spoiler

8 hours ago, razark said:

On 4/17/2019 at 4:41 AM, A Random Kerbonaut said:

How did Apollo astronauts not get fried from the rays?

The same way people in Antarctica manage not to freeze.

Drinking?