Abstract
The radiation environment in space consists of high energy protons and high energy heavy ions (HZE). The principal sources of HZE ions in nature are galactic cosmic rays (GCR) and the solar events (SPE), which consist mostly of protons with small components of heavy ions. The high energy heavy ion is the most biologically effective to humans. The NASA Space Radiation Health Program initiated the experimental assessment using a heavy particle accelerator in the dedicated NASA Space Radiation Laboratory (NSRL) at the Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL). Heavy Ion Medical Accelerator in Chiba (HIMAC) can accelerate heavy particles such as proton, helium, carbon, neon, silicone, argon and iron ions up to the maximum energy at 500 MeV/u. The experiments for research of HZE biological effects using HIMAC has been performed since 1994. Many participants were from foreign countries and all parts of Japan for collaborative experiments and research. In this symposium, I will review and summarize what has been happening in the space radiation research on the ground at HIMAC and other places in the world.
