"Mark McIntyre" <markmcintyre@spamcop.net> wrote in message
news:jrhvqvsfd22pl5hsed1mtdd3ud1tqunlql@4ax.com...
|
| Your average camera doesn't have these advantages.

I know.  I have camera envy.

| >There is no question that a severe solar flare would have
| >presented a problem for the Apollo astronauts.
|
| I believe this is questionable - during the most recent flares,
| the astronauts in the ISS only retreated to the more heavily
| shielded area for a short while, and the platingf there  is not
| that thick.

Yes, that's true.  However the ISS crew is more concerned with the response
of the Van Allen belts to the flare, not with the direct effects of the
flare.  The Apollo astronauts spent a large portion of their missions
outside the Van Allen belts and would have been subjected to the full brunt
of a major flare, had one occurred.

And by "presenting a problem" I don't mean "certain death".  There was a
significant solar flare during Apollo 16.  But inside the CM that produced
only a 2-3 rem skin dose.  Had the astronauts been on the lunar surface at
the time wearing only space suits, their skin dose would have been 10-12
rem -- a cause for concern, but likely not to have any long-term health
issues.

The major flare that occurred in August 1972 (between Apollos 16 and 17)
would have been a problem for an Apollo astronaut, had there been a mission
in progress during that time.  CM dosages would have been around 200-300
rem, enough to cause serious short-term health effects.  Space suit dosages
would have been 2,000 rem:  unquestionably fatal.

Between Apollo 11 and Apollo 17 there were only three solar events that
would have produced skin dosages in a space suit of 10 rem or more.
However, one of those would have been fatal to astronauts on the lunar
surface, and severely harmful to the CM pilot.

-- 
                                          |
The universe is not required to conform   |  Jay Windley
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