We propose a dual program of instrument development/deployment and code development to address roses b-7 SWR2O2R section 1.2. While the overall picture of GCR and solar particle propagation through…

Oklahoma State University was awarded a $481,346 grant by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) under the Research Opportunities in Space and Earth Sciences (ROSES) program, specifically addressing solar and galactic cosmic radiation measurement and modeling in the atmosphere for space weather applications. The award, issued February 3, 2023, with completion targeted for February 2, 2027, supports a dual program combining instrument development and computational modeling. The project aims to address a critical gap in atmospheric radiation measurements by developing a compact, low-cost dosimeter integrating tissue-equivalent proportional counter (TEPC) and silicon spectrometer technologies capable of detecting all ionizing radiation particle species relevant to human health and avionics safety in aviation environments.

The research initiative encompasses four primary objectives: completing development and fabrication of multiple integrated radiation instruments suitable for deployment across commercial, military, and government aircraft, as well as high-altitude balloons, unmanned aerial vehicles, and suborbital rockets; identifying and pursuing flight opportunities for long-term widespread deployment of radiation instrumentation; expanding and refining the AIREC computer model to include solar particle events and calculate particle production and interaction characteristics; and developing data analysis methods and algorithms to enable direct comparison between measured field data and model outputs. The contract carries no small business set-aside designation and reflects NASA's investment in advancing space weather research capabilities through improved atmospheric radiation characterization.

We propose a dual program of instrument development/deployment and code development to address roses b-7 SWR2O2R section 1.2. While the overall picture of GCR and solar particle propagation through the atmosphere has been known for some time, many details of this picture remain to be filled out. There is a systematic lack of radiation measurements in the atmosphere. One reason for this paucity is a lack of suitable, low-cost, easy-to-operate radiation detection instrumentation, tailored to the particle types and energies encountered in the atmosphere, that can be widely deployed on a variety of aircraft, balloons, and rockets. Similarly, while there are numerous computer models for estimating biologically weighted doses of air crew and passengers, similar models for estimating physics quantities such as particle fluxes and energy spectra as functions of altitude, geographic location and time are rare to non-existent objectives: 1. Complete development, carry out ground-based testing/calibration and fabricate multiple instruments that integrate the airted tepc and SI spectrometer into a compact, low-cost dosimeter capable of measuring all ionizing radiation particle species of relevance to human health and avionics safety in aviation. 2. Identify, investigate and pursue flight opportunities on suitable airborne platforms for long-term, widespread deployment of radiation instrumentation. Candidate platforms include commercial, business, military and government aircraft, high altitude balloons, high altitude uavs (e.g. swift hale), and suborbital rockets. 3. Expand and refine the airec computer model: include representative and user-defined solar particle events, calculation of total numbers of particles produced by particle type, average altitude of first interaction as functions of particle energy, angle and magnetic rigidity. 4. Develop data analysis methods and algorithms so that measured data can be reduced into a form that can be directly compared with output from computer models like nairas, cari-7, and airec. 5. To obtain radiation data during solar particle events and geomagnetic storms, we propose to develop a balloon-based detector system that can be launched at northern latitudes on short notice when indicated by space weather data from goes and similar platforms. This system will be based on current weather balloon technology wherein instruments will be lofted to ~100K feet during ~2-hour flights and then recovered. Test flights will be carried out in oklahoma.