RaD‐X: Complementary Measurements of Dose Rates at Aviation Altitudes
2016
The RaD-X stratospheric balloon flight organized by the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration was launched from Fort Sumner on 25 September 2015 and carried several instruments to
measure the radiation field in the upper atmosphere at the average vertical cutoff rigidity Rc of 4.1 GV. The
German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum fur Luft- und Raumfahrt) in cooperation with Lufthansa
German Airlines supported this campaign with an independent measuring flight at the altitudes of civil
aviation on a round trip from Germany to Japan. The goal was to measure dose rates under similar space
weather conditions over an area on the Northern Hemisphere opposite to the RaD-X flight. Dose rates were
measured in the target areas, i.e., around vertical cutoff rigidity Rc of 4.1 GV, at two flight altitudes for about
1 h at each position with acceptable counting statistics. The analysis of the space weather situation during the
flights shows that measuring data were acquired under stable and moderate space weather conditions with a
virtually undisturbed magnetosphere. The measured rates of absorbed dose in silicon and ambient dose
equivalent complement the data recorded during the balloon flight. The combined measurements provide a
set of experimental data suitable for validating and improving numerical models for the calculation of
radiation exposure at aviation altitudes.
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