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The Van Allen Belts


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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. 

 

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  On 4/17/2019 at 2:19 AM, Bill Phil said:

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

Specifically it flies through the South Atlantic Anomaly.

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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.

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  On 4/17/2019 at 2:09 AM, Willer Kerman said:

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

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In the James Michener novel Space, ...

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Edited by StrandedonEarth
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