Water Walls Radiation Shielding: Preliminary Beam Testing of Ersatz Solid Waste Simulant

A major attribute of the Water Walls Life Support Architecture is its potential to provide radiation shielding in addition to its air revitalization, climate control, contaminant control, and waste processing functions. This section describes the method and results of a series of preliminary particle beam tests conducted in the HIMAC Accelerator in Chiba, Japan. These tests are preliminary in the sense that the researchers’ intent was to acquire sufficient data to begin modeling the shielding properties of the Water Walls passive membrane bag components, including their biological product contents. The experiments tested algae simulant (nori seaweed), bone simulant, and fecal simulant. The tests measured relative dose to benchmark models of the effectiveness of these materials. The long-term goal of this research is to establish the radiation shielding properties of the Water Walls materials and components within the configuration of a space habitat or spacecraft.