Radiation protection of astronauts in human missions to Mars: simulation and reality

Speaker: Associate Professor Susanna Guatelli
Affiliation: University of Wollongong

Join us to hear from the 2021 AIP Women in Physics lectureship award winner.

Associate Professor Guatelli trained as a nuclear physicist at the University of Genova, Italy, worked with the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation, and is now the academic director of the Medical Radiation Physics bachelor degree at the University of Wollongong. In 2003, she undertook a PhD at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), investigating possible radiation protection solutions for human missions to Mars (a project led by the European Space Agency). Since there are no particle accelerator facilities capable of reproducing the complex cosmic radiation fields encountered in space, she has developed simulations to predict radiation interactions for astronauts and space mission habitats. In this seminar, she will discuss the nature of these radiation hazards and the simulation tools used to address this challenge to space exploration