At the General meeting of the Russian Academy of Sciences that was held on 29 – 30 March 2018, RAS President Academician A.M. Sergeev among significant scientific achievements obtained by Russian scientists in 2017 presented the development of a new concept of radiation risk during manned deep space flights. The concept was suggested and proven in the JINR Laboratory of Radiation Biology jointly with the Institute of Biomedical Problems of RAS.

Photo by Nikolay Malakhin

From the report “On present state of fundamental sciences in the Russian Federation and on the most significant scientific achievement obtained by Russian scientists in 2017” by RAS President A.M. Sergeev:

“The detailed investigation of radiation risk in manned flights into deep space was carried out connected, first of all, with damage of brain structures, hippocampus above all, by galactic heavy ions that leads to cognitive and other deteriorations. Bombarding with carbon ions of energy 500 MeV per nucleon with the dose of 1 g resulted in a significant deterioration of monkeys’ cognitive functions. The central nervous system violations during the flight may lead to the mission failure. This is a truly serious result that may challenge the possibility of flights into far space because heavy space particles with high energies are able to penetrate spaceships and violate brain functions.”

Read also on the topic: About the report by E.A.Krasavin at RAS Council