{"id":476,"date":"2016-07-27T08:41:00","date_gmt":"2016-07-27T06:41:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kids.esa.int\/radiation_tracker_a_must-have_bit_of_an_astronaut_kit\/"},"modified":"2026-10-08T00:28:39","modified_gmt":"2026-10-07T22:28:39","slug":"radiation_tracker_a_must-have_bit_of_an_astronaut_kit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kids.esa.int\/el\/radiation_tracker_a_must-have_bit_of_an_astronaut_kit\/","title":{"rendered":"\u03a3\u03c5\u03c3\u03ba\u03b5\u03c5\u03ae \u03c0\u03b1\u03c1\u03b1\u03ba\u03bf\u03bb\u03bf\u03cd\u03b8\u03b7\u03c3\u03b7\u03c2 \u03b1\u03ba\u03c4\u03b9\u03bd\u03bf\u03b2\u03bf\u03bb\u03af\u03b1\u03c2: \u03ad\u03bd\u03b1 \u03b1\u03c0\u03b1\u03c1\u03b1\u03af\u03c4\u03b7\u03c4\u03bf \u03b5\u03be\u03ac\u03c1\u03c4\u03b7\u03bc\u03b1 \u03c4\u03bf\u03c5 \u03b5\u03be\u03bf\u03c0\u03bb\u03b9\u03c3\u03bc\u03bf\u03cd \u03b5\u03bd\u03cc\u03c2 \u03b1\u03c3\u03c4\u03c1\u03bf\u03bd\u03b1\u03cd\u03c4\u03b7"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Astronauts face many risks in space. One of these is radiation: an invisible danger but one that can cause serious harm to space travellers. A new gadget has been developed to help us better understand this threat.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Radiation comes from different places in space, such as the Sun and distant dying stars. Radiation damages the cells that our bodies are made from, and can cause severe illnesses \u2013 even death. Here on the surface of planet Earth we are protected from this radiation by our planet\u2019s magnetic field. This acts like a shield and keeps us safe. But astronauts in space are at a higher risk of exposure.<\/p>\n

\"EuCPAD
EuCPAD units will be worn by astronauts<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Astronauts already wear sensors that add up their total radiation exposure over time. But the information on them can only be read when they come back to Earth, in a special lab.<\/p>\n

To give a more accurate picture, scientists and engineers have developed the European Crew Personal Active Dosimter \u2013 EuCPAD for short. A monitor about the size of a smartphone records its wearer\u2019s exposure on a continuous basis.<\/p>\n

Then astronauts can plug them into a bigger device like a smartphone dock, to recharge their battery and download their results. Astronauts and researchers down on the ground can then gain regular updates on the radiation environment: are some parts of their spacecraft better shielded than others?<\/p>\n

\"ESA
ESA astronaut Andreas Mogensen has tested a EuCPAD<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A EuCPAD monitor was tested last September by ESA astronaut Andreas Mogensen. And now a EuCPAD reader device has been delivered to the International Space Station, ready for ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet to use it with his own monitor when his mission there begins in November.<\/p>\n

The results returned by the EuCPAD should be invaluable when it comes to travelling further than Earth orbit.<\/p>\n

Planned missions to the Moon and Mars will be particularly dangerous because they will take astronauts far from the protective shield of Earth\u2019s magnetic field. But real-time tracking of astronaut radiation exposure will help researchers to develop protective methods to keep crew safe during their voyages.<\/p>\n

\u0395\u03bd\u03b4\u03b9\u03b1\u03c6\u03ad\u03c1\u03bf\u03bd \u03c3\u03c4\u03bf\u03b9\u03c7\u03b5\u03af\u03bf:<\/b> EuCPADs are so advanced that they can tell the source of radiation, such as from the Sun or cosmic radiation from far out in our Galaxy!<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Astronauts face many risks in space. One of these is radiation: an invisible danger but one that can cause serious harm to space travellers. A new gadget has been developed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"esa_banner_image":"https:\/\/www.esa.int\/var\/esa\/storage\/images\/esa_multimedia\/images\/2016\/07\/radiation_from_space_is_dangerous_for_astronauts\/17888061-2-eng-GB\/Radiation_from_space_is_dangerous_for_astronauts.jpg","esa_banner_description":"Radiation from space is dangerous for astronauts","esa_banner_credit":"SSA","esa_banner_licence":"ESA Standard Licence","esa_banner_detail_url":"https:\/\/www.esa.int\/ESA_Multimedia\/Images\/2016\/07\/Radiation_from_space_is_dangerous_for_astronauts","esa_external_url":"","esa_external_new_window":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":true},"categories":[10,13,63],"tags":[],"panel":[],"language":[],"age":[],"duration":[],"resource_type":[],"audience":[],"wf_post_folders":[],"class_list":["post-476","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-learn","category-life-in-space","category-living-in-space"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kids.esa.int\/el\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kids.esa.int\/el\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kids.esa.int\/el\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kids.esa.int\/el\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kids.esa.int\/el\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=476"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/kids.esa.int\/el\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4505,"href":"https:\/\/kids.esa.int\/el\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476\/revisions\/4505"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kids.esa.int\/el\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=476"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kids.esa.int\/el\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=476"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kids.esa.int\/el\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=476"},{"taxonomy":"panel","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kids.esa.int\/el\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/panel?post=476"},{"taxonomy":"language","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kids.esa.int\/el\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/language?post=476"},{"taxonomy":"age","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kids.esa.int\/el\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/age?post=476"},{"taxonomy":"duration","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kids.esa.int\/el\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/duration?post=476"},{"taxonomy":"resource_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kids.esa.int\/el\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/resource_type?post=476"},{"taxonomy":"audience","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kids.esa.int\/el\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/audience?post=476"},{"taxonomy":"wf_post_folders","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kids.esa.int\/el\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wf_post_folders?post=476"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}