Development of a space radiation Monte Carlo computer simulation based on the FLUKA and ROOT codes

This NASA funded project is proceeding to develop a Monte Carlo-based computer simulation of the radiation environment in space. With actual funding only initially in place at the end of May 2000, the study is still in the early stage of development. The general tasks have been identified and personnel have been selected. The code to be assembled will be based upon two major existing software packages. The radiation transport simulation will be accomplished by updating the FLUKA Monte Carlo program, and the user interface will employ the ROOT software being developed at CERN. The end-product will be a Monte Carlo-based code which will complement the existing analytic codes such as BRYNTRN/HZETRN presently used by NASA to evaluate the effects of radiation shielding in space. The planned code will possess the ability to evaluate the radiation environment for spacecraft and habitats in Earth orbit, in interplanetary space, on the lunar surface, or on a planetary surface such as Mars. Furthermore, it will be useful in the design and analysis of experiments such as ACCESS (Advanced Cosmic-ray Composition Experiment for Space Station), which is an Office of Space Science payload currently under evaluation for deployment on the International Space Station (ISS). FLUKA will be significantly improved and tailored for use in simulating space radiation in four ways. First, the additional physics not presently within the code that is necessary to simulate the problems of interest, namely the heavy ion inelastic processes, will be incorporated. Second, the internal geometry package will be replaced with one that will substantially increase the calculation speed as well as simplify the data input task. Third, default incident flux packages that include all of the different space radiation sources of interest will be included. Finally, the user interface and internal data structure will be melded together with ROOT, the object-oriented data analysis infrastructure system. Beyond the benefits of `objectivity', ROOT's incorporation will also provide a graphical user interface with powerful tools for input prior to the calculation, as well as for data analysis and visualization of the results. (14 refs).