Van Allen Belts and Planetary Magnetospheres

[afranius]

You might find this paper useful for ideas about magnetic radiation shielding. It's a bit antiquated though, so there may be a more modern treatment:

http://www.islandone.org/Settlements/MagShield.html#one

On further investigation, this is a summary from a more recent workshop on the subject of shielding. The summary is not very detailed, but some of the citations might be useful: http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/20050180620_2005179931.pdf

And here is another one, with more technical details: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1350448706000928#

Edited November 17, 2013 by afranius

[Greedybob]

This is a really good idea, but I think that this would be better as its own individual mod as some people might not want to deal with this in KSP Interstellar just saying. All in all I say go for it.

[NoMrBond]

What about tracking

Short term exposure (Radiation doses which fade over time)

Long term exposure (Accumulated radiation dose which never decays)

Which would have different effects on different objects (and Kerbals)

Short term radiation burst on a probe core; shuts down and won't respond for X time units

Short term radiation burst on a battery; shorts out (charge reduced to zero) will not recharge for X time units

Short term radiation burst on a Kerbal; Sickened, does not count as crew (for command pod purposes) and cannot be EVA'd for X time units

Long term radiation damage on a probe core; sometimes commands will be reversed, or not executed for X time, eventually will not respond at all

Long term radiation damage on a battery; reduced storage

Long term radiation damage on a solar array; reduced energy output

Long term radiation damage on a Kerbal; Uhh, interesting question, I mean nothing good, Kancer? That's pretty morbid though.

Consider also shielding (physical and technological), technological hardening (heavier but radiation resistant parts) and medical advances (reduced short term radiation effects or slow decay of long term dosage if the Kerbal remains at KSC for X time).

[kiwiak]

I did not noticed this thread and made my own in another board. So i will just paste my post. (with some corrects)

Each crew member has radiation endurance, if it goes over 100, he dies. Staying in protected area slowly regenerates his endurance.

Magnetic fields protect low orbits over some bodies, like Kerbin.

But they also create radiation bels - Van Kerben belts. Some planets (Jool?) due to their extremly strong magnetic fields capture very many radiation particles making their vicinity extremly dangerous. But, some of he moons of Jool system have magnetic fields on theyr own, providing same place to stay protected from Jool radiation.

Only heavy shielded Command pod provides protection from radiation outsie LKO retucing radiation exposure to zero. Heavy lander can reduces exposure by 75%. This wont applay to Jool system where you need artificial magnetic shield generator for your ship. This part is very hevy and drains very much power. Forget putting it on your light lander. Magnetic shield provides protection for every command pod in some vicinity from it - so kerbals doing EVA around the ship would be still safe.

There are also solar flares. Irradiation from solar flare depends from distance from the sun. Some closer distances, inside pods with lesser protection woudl be fatal. 100% of protection woudl be provided only by active magnetic shield and flare shelter. Crew inside flare shelter would be unable to pilot ship. Of course player should recive solar flare warnings some time before flare, and these woudl stop warp.

Atomic engines effect coudl be included too, having these engines woudl expose ship to radiation (shut down engines woudl expose ship too, althought by smaller amound than when running) but DEPENDING FROM DISTANCE TO THE POD. This woudl require people to change a way they build their wessels - putting engines away from command pods, possibly on long truss structures. Discovery from space odyssey was build this way!

http://culttvman.com/main/wp-content...ampdisc001.jpg

Mod needs to have some magnetic fields visualization inside map view, geiger counter with toggleable sound

and optionally some 3d model fo such counter for IVA view. Also some graphic filter adding "cosmic ray flashes" would be nice http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmic_ray_visual_phenomena

[kiwiak]

Just imagine this dramatic mission - Jool system, small lander separates from mothership. Mothership is shielded by magnetic shield, but smal lander is not. Will it make it back before crew recives fatal dosage of radiation? What if lander lands over some radioactive minerals deposit? Levels of radiation woudl be even higher.

[Bloodbunny]

Didn't the Apollo missions have procedures for turning the CSM towards the Sun in case of a solar flare so that the fuel and aluminum would stop the worst of the radiation? A similar system could be used for rudimentary shielding; maybe an emergency crew compartment surrounded by fuel tank. The level of fuel in the tank would determine effectiveness.

[db48x]

Radiation-induced cataracts.

[Artikae]

With electronic hardware, you have the world of game glitches to draw ideas from.

• Data being inaccurate or just plain wrong. For example: floating point errors, "NaN", flickering incorrect values.
  
• GUI elements and indicators being stuck in the wrong state until cycled. For example: landing gear displaying as being lowered when it isn't.
  
• Physical elements having the wrong output or state, cycling between states, jumping between powers. For example: a slight trim offset in the controls, a single RCS thruster being stuck on (Gemini 8), engine controllers surging.
  
• The system being stuck in an invalid state, requiring a power cycle. For example: Countdown timer until reactivation, or a right-click restart option.
  
• Static on the external camera. A method for achieving this is shown in videos 57-60 here (a GUITexture attached to the camera with the opacity varied procedurally).
  

As far as kerbals are concerned, effects are more difficult to come up with.

• Losing abilities, for example running, jumping, using equipment, repairing and repacking.
  
• Ragdolling.
  
• Losing the use of that kerbal's position in IVA.
  
• Control delay/overshoot.
  
• Full-screen vision blur.
  

How am I do tell which is which?

I'll end up thinking KSP is having a seizure while is only the radiation interfering.

It's still awesome and I want it NAOW!

[Fractal_UK]

This has been slow moving due to the many facets of Interstellar and me being extremely busy at the moment but some progress has been made.

I now have a system in place to track Kerbal lifetime radiation dose, i.e. as a Kerbal travels around the solar system the exposure to radiation that it experiences is recorded with an adjustment for the Kerbal's natural ability to repair any damage done to its body by radiation. The current system for this is fairly simple, there is a 50mSv/year limit for completely safe, consequence free, radiation exposure. If a Kerbal is exposed to more than that, which they generally will be in space, the dose will begin to accumulate over time. Likewise, if a Kerbal is exposed to less than this limit, then their body can actual begin to recover from prior radiation exposure, effectively reducing their total accumulated dose and allowing them more mission time in future.

The result of this is that large doses are disproportionately effective at creating an accumulated dose that is hard to ever recover from while slightly elevated doses can be recovered from with relative ease.

Very high doses that cause accute damage need to be handled seperately but this is fundamentally a straightforward process in comparison.

[Ascraeus]

Nice to hear about the progress! I think this is a really interesting idea that for sure i'll use.

Keep up the good work!

[kiwiak]

Do you plan to include some additional parts that woudl improve ships shielding?

Does various pods have various radiation protection?

Do LV-N and reactors emit additional radiation, does distance from command pod matters?

[Fractal_UK]

Do you plan to include some additional parts that woudl improve ships shielding?

Does various pods have various radiation protection?

Do LV-N and reactors emit additional radiation, does distance from command pod matters?

Each command pod and each probe core has a different rad hardness rating which determines by what factor the radiation is scaled down compared to what an EVA kerbal would receive. These values are automatically generated based upon the mass of the capsule and the number of Kerbals it contains but could be overridden in specific cases.

The main radiation shielding mechanism I'm interested in initially is a magnetically confined plasma to deflect charged particles like cosmic rays though I'm interested in propellant tanks performing a similar role for both cosmic rays and neutrons.

Nuclear reactors and rockets will, in future, have some effect but it will be quite a small one. At which point, the dose will be inverse square so, yes, distance will matter.

[mdapol]

High radiation dosage might lead to death, but maybe there could be an option to retire the Kerbal from active service before that happens.

[drtedastro]

Or, just use him as a 'goo light'. By that time he should be glowing a nice soft green....

[kiwiak]

Will we have some radiation related science?

[Ghost13]

I think that radiation should be introduced as a new game mechanic rather some nuisance basically it’s just another resource that should be managed.

Kerbals

Kerbal have radiation levels that slowly rise during the flight when outside of Kerbin close orbit orbit. During the flight radiation levels slowly rise but generally without flares or venturing in radiation hazardos environments Kerbals can spend several years in space without any serous radiation effects. If the radiation level rise to high Kerbal may die during the flight or EVA.

Planets with magnetic fields

Kerbin – It’s fairly safe by means of radiation inside Kerbin SOI.

Jool – Around half of the Jool system is within strong radiation environment.

Lathe – by it’s look it should have strong magnetic field in Jool system and low radiation levels. When other planets that might be farther then Lathe have hight levels of radiation. This will make Lathe safe heaven for bases of manned missions.

Planets with high surface radiation

Moho – on the bright side (from the sun)

Eve – from blutonium deposits.

Jool – close to the planet from it’s magnetic field.

Unmanned probes

Probes are immune to any amount of radiation however during the solar flares probes become uncontrollable due to the signal interference.

Science parts

Geiger counter – unlocks the radiation display. Can produce science reports.

Radiation scanner – allow you to find safe zones for landing on radiation rich planets.

Solar flares scanner – if you have satellite with such scanner on Kerbol orbit you can predict the solar flares and receive the warning, to seek shelter. (Maybe several versions of this scanner may be introduced with increased warning time).

Parts effects

RTG and NERVA engines produce some additional radiation that might affect the crew on the long flights. Shilded version of the RTG and NERVA becomes available for the flights with the crew.

Solar flares

Random event that increase radiation levels in all Kerbal system for several hours. Kerbals without protection may receive a lot of radiation or if they already high on radiation they may die. Solar flares initiate auroras on all planets with magnetic field and disrupts communication that no science or probe commands can be transmitted. You can protect Kerbals from solar flares in Handed capsules, on the night side of the planet.

New parts in the tech tree.

Radiation hardened capsules for 1 and 3 Kerbals for long and hazardous flights.

Radiation shelter – can hold up to 3 kerbals but unlike capsule, no ship control can be made from it.

Radiation shielded NERVA – makes NERVA safe for Kerbals for the increased weight.

Radiation shielded RTG – makes RTG harmless to Kerbals for the increased weight.

Radiation shield – Similar to ablative shild protects the ship from radiation much be oriented to the sun to work. (Might require sun orientation system for the ship).

Radiation shielded plating – allow you to protect your ship from radiation and expense of increased weight.

Radiation deflecting field – unlocked later in the game provide shielding from radiation via magnetic fields very light but with high energy consumption.

Hazard environment EVA suit – allow some protection from radiation environment (Moho dayside landing, EVE landing, Jool proximity operation e.t.c.)

Radiation treatment – Allow slow Kerbal recovery from obtained radiation when resting in KSC.

Thats what I came up.