AW: [ RadSafe ] [RadSafe]Mission to Mars---Fission Propulsion

[Bernard L. Cohen]

Rainer.Facius at dlr.de wrote:
> Considering a mass shielding between the reactor and the astronaut compartment thick enough to shield sufficiently against neutrons and gammas emitted by the fuel, my guess was that only a very minor fraction of the 'soft' Bremsstrahlung photons from beta decays of the fission products would reach the skin. 
>   
One point missing from this extensive discussion is that the reactor 
could be placed a large distance away from the people-- maybe even a 
mile or more away (?) -- with a rigid rod connecting them. This would 
greatly reduce radiation exposures and shielding requirements.

-- 
Bernard L. Cohen
Physics Dept., University of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, PA 15260
Tel: (412)624-9245  Fax: (412)624-9163
e-mail: blc at pitt.edu  web site: http://www.phyast.pitt.edu/~blc