• DOI:10.1126/science.1244797
• Corpus ID: 33661472

Mars’ Surface Radiation Environment Measured with the Mars Science Laboratory’s Curiosity Rover

@article{Hassler2014MarsSR,
  title={Mars’ Surface Radiation Environment Measured with the Mars Science Laboratory’s Curiosity Rover},
  author={Donald M. Hassler and Cary J. Zeitlin and Robert F. Wimmer–Schweingruber and Bent Ehresmann and Scot C. R. Rafkin and Jennifer L. Eigenbrode and D. E. Brinza and Gerald Weigle and Stephan I. B{\"o}ttcher and Eckart B{\"o}hm and Soenke Burmeister and Jingnan Guo and Jan K{\"o}hler and C{\'e}sar Mart{\'i}n and Guenther Reitz and Francis A. Cucinotta and Myung‐Hee Y. Kim and David Harry Grinspoon and Mark Alan Bullock and Arik Posner and Javier G{\'o}mez-Elvira and Ashwin R. Vasavada and John P. Grotzinger and Msl Team},
  journal={Science},
  year={2014},
  volume={343}
}

• D. Hassler, C. Zeitlin, +21 authors M. Team
• Published 24 January 2014
• Physics
• Science

The Radiation Assessment Detector (RAD) on the Mars Science Laboratory’s Curiosity rover began making detailed measurements of the cosmic ray and energetic particle radiation environment on the surface of Mars on 7 August 2012. We report and discuss measurements of the absorbed dose and dose equivalent from galactic cosmic rays and solar energetic particles on the martian surface for ~300 days of observations during the current solar maximum. These measurements provide insight into the radiation hazards associated with a human mission to the surface of Mars and provide an anchor point with which to model the subsurface radiation environment, with implications for microbial survival times of any possible extant or past life, as well as for the preservation of potential organic biosignatures of the ancient martian environment.