Anna Fogtman, PhD
Crew Exploration Scientists
European Astronaut Centre
Cologne, Germany
Space Radiation and health risks on the way to the Moon
Abstract:
International space agencies are venturing into deep space, with missions to and around the Moon, as the next step before going to Mars. Sustainable human presence in space requires novel mission profiles and durations, supported by technological solutions protecting human health from challenging spaceflight environment. As space radiation can be a single showstopper of human space exploration, space agencies and scientific communities are putting efforts into identifying and mitigating radiation health risks. This presentation will focus on health risks of human spaceflight, and in particular, risks related to exposure to ionizing radiation. Space radiation environment will be discussed, followed by its biological effects on living tissues and Space Agencies strategies for protection from it.
Bio:
Crew Exploration Scientists at the European Astronaut Centre (EAC) in Cologne, Germany. Her work is focused on health risk assessment of astronauts during exploration-class missions beyond Low Earth Orbit and coordination of ESA founded science experiments with the focus on radiation research and radiation protection. She is studying the biological effects of space radiation environment on the human body, especially in the context of individual sensitivity to ionising radiation. Before she joined EAC, she was working at the Faculty of Biology, University of Warsaw and the Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Polish Academy of Sciences. Her research was focused on the influence of changing environmental conditions on cellular genetic networks. She shas obtained her PhD in Biology at the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw, Poland. Earlier she worked at the Interdisciplinary Centre for Mathematical and Computational Modelling, where she participated in the project: “Complex Processes: Modelling, Simulation and Optimization”. She graduated both: University of Warsaw and University of Wroclaw.