• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.46 no.2
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• pp.51.1-51.1
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• 2021

Merger shocks with M_s < ~ 3 - 4 have been detected in galaxy clusters through radio observations of synchrotron radiations emitted from cosmic-ray (CR) electrons. The CR electrons are believed to be produced by the so-called diffusive shock acceleration (DSA) at the merger shocks. To describe the acceleration of electrons, the injection into DSA has to be understood. Recent studies have showed that electrons could be energized through stochastic shock drift acceleration (SSDA), a mechanism mediated by multi-scale plasma waves at shock transition zone. However, such preacceleration process seems to be effective only at the supercritical shocks with M_s > ~ 2.3, implying that further studies should be done to explain radio relics with weaker shocks. In this talk, we present the results obtained by fully kinetic 2D particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations, which include pre-existing suprathermal electrons possibly ejected from active galactic nuclei (AGNs) or produced by previous episodes of turbulence/shocks. The simulations indicate that the pre-existing electrons enhance the upstream plasma waves in shocks with M_s < ~ 2.3. However, the wavelength of such waves is not long enough to scatter off suprathermal electrons and energize them to the injection momentum for DSA. Hence, we conclude that preexciting suprathermal electrons alone would not solve the problem of electron acceleration at radio relic shocks.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.25-31
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• 2014

There has been a rapid increase of the concern on the space radiation effect on pilots, crew and passengers at the commercial aircraft altitude (~ 10 km) recently. It is because domestic airline companies, Korean Air and Asiana Airlines have just begun operating the polar routes over the North Pole since 2006 and 2009 respectively. CARI-6 and CARI-6M are commonly used space radiation estimation programs which are provided officially by the U.S. federal aviation administration (FAA). In this paper, the route doses and the annual radiation doses for Korean pilots and cabin crew were estimated by using CARI-6M based on 2012 flight records. Also the modeling concept was developed for our own space radiation estimation program which is composed of GEANT4 and NRLMSIS00 models. The GEANT4 model is used to trace the incident particle transports in the atmosphere and the NRLMSIS00 model is used to get the background atmospheric densities of various neutral atoms at the aircraft altitude. Also presented are the results of simple integration tests of those models and the plan to include the space weather variations through the solar proton event (SPE) prediction model such as UMASEP and the galactic cosmic ray (GCR) prediction model such as Badhwar-O'Neill 2010.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.325-333
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• 2014

We are motivated by both the accumulating evidence for the connection of solar variability to the chemistry of nitrogen oxide in the atmosphere and recent finding that the Galactic cosmic-ray (GCR) influx is associated with the solar north-south asymmetry. We have analyzed the measured pH in precipitation over the 109 stations distributed in the United States. We have found that data of pH in precipitation as a whole appear to be marginally anti-correlated with the solar asymmetry. That is, rain seems to become less acidic when the southern hemisphere of the Sun is more active. The acidity of rain is also found to be correlated with the atmospheric temperature, while not to be correlated with solar activity itself. We have carried on the analysis with two subsamples in which stations located in the east and in the west. We find that the pH data derived from the eastern stations which are possibly polluted by sulfur oxides and nitrogen oxides are not correlated with the solar asymmetry, but with the temperature. On the contrary, the pH data obtained from the western stations are found to be marginally anti-correlated with the solar asymmetry. In addition, the pH data obtained from the western stations are found to be correlated with the solar UV radiation. We conclude by briefly pointing out that a role of the solar asymmetry in the process of acidification of rain is to be further examined particularly when the level of pollution by sulfur oxides and nitrogen oxides is low.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.537-558
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• 2005

This paper addresses the results of HAUSAT-2 radiation environment and effect analyses, including TID and SEE analyses. Trapped proton and electron, solar proton, galactic cosmic ray models were considered for HAUSAT-2 TID radiation environment analysis. TID was analyzed through total dose-depth curve and the radiation tolerance of TID for HAUSAT-2 components was verified by using DMBP method and sectoring analysis. HAUSAT-2 LET spectrum for heavy ion and proton were also analyzed for SEE investigation. SEE(SEU, SEL) analyses were accomplished for MPC860T2B microprocessor and K6X8008T2B memory. It was estimated that several SEUs may occur without SEL during the HAUSAT-2 mission life(2 years). Software Hamming Code EDAC has been implemented to detect and correct the SEU. In this study, all radiation analyses were conducted by using SPENVIS software.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.104.2-104.2
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• 2012

미국, 중국, 일본, 인도 등과 같은 세계 여러 국가들이 달 및 화성 탐사를 수행하고 있는 현시점에서 우리나라도 2025년에 달 탐사를 계획하고 있다. 인간에게 있어서 우주공간은 고에너지 환경의 영향을 많이 받는 곳이다. 향후 달, 화성과 같은 다른 행성으로의 이주를 생각하고 있는 현 시점에서 우리는 고에너지우주방사선 환경의 영향을 고려해야 한다. 지구에서의 인간은 지구 자기장과 대기에 의해 고에너지 우주선 환경으로부터의 영향을 덜 받는다. 그러나 달과 화성의 경우는 다르다. 달의 대기는 거의 없고 자기장도 무시할 정도로 매우 작으며, 화성 또한 자기장이 거의 없으며 대기 또한 얇아서 Galactic Cosmic Ray (GCR)나 Solar Energetic Proton (SEP) 등으로부터 인간은 많은 영향을 받을 수 있다. 이러한 위험으로부터 인간이 보호받을 수 있는 곳은 달과 화성의 지표 아래나 동굴이라고 볼 수 있다. 그래서 달 및 화성의 표면과 지하 영역에 대한 고에너지 우주선 환경의 깊이에 따른 영향을 분석하여 어느 정도로 두터운 천장을 가진 동굴이어야 우주인들이 상주하는 지하공간을 지구표면에서의 방사선 환경과 같은 수준으로 유지할 수 있는지를 추정해 보려고 한다. 달 표면 토양의 화학적 구성성분은 Maria와 Highlands로 구분되어 약간의 차이가 있다. 달의 Maria 토양은 $SiO_2$ - 45.4%, $Al_2O_3$ - 14.9%, CaO - 11.8%, FeO - 14.1%, MgO - 9.2%, $TiO_2$ - 3.9%, $Na_2O$ - 0.6%이고 Highlands의 토양은 $SiO_2$ - 45.5%, $Al_2O_3$ - 24.0%, CaO - 15.9%, FeO - 5.9%, MgO - 7.5%, $TiO_2$ - 0.6%, $Na_2O$ - 0.6%의 화학적인 구성비를 가진다. 또한 화성표면은 $SiO_2$ - 43.9%, $Al_2O_3$ - 8.1%, CaO - 6.0%, FeO - 18.1%, MgO - 7.1%, $Na_2O$ - 1.4%의 토양의 화학적인 구성비를 가지고 있다. 본 연구에서는 이러한 구성비를 가지고 있는 달과 화성 표면에 대한 우주방사선의 영향을 분석하기 위해서 GEANT4를 사용하여 수행한 전산 모사의 결과를 발표할 것이다.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.41 no.3
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• pp.195-208
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• 2024

As human exploration goals shift from missions in low Earth orbit (LEO) to long-duration interplanetary missions, radiation protection remains one of the key technological issues that must be resolved. The low Earth orbit space radiation dosimeter (LEO-DOS) instrument to measure radiation levels and create a global dose map in the LEO on board the the next generation small satellite-2 (NEXTSat-2) was launched successfully on May 25, 2023 using the Nuri KSLV-III in Korea. The NEXTSat-2 orbits the Earth every 100 minutes, in an orbit with an inclination of 97.8° and an altitude of about 550 km above sea level. The LEO-DOS is equipped with a particle dosimeter (PD) and a neutron spectrometer (NS), which enable the measurement of dosimetric quantities such as absorbed dose (D), dose equivalent (H) for charged particles and neutrons. To verify the observations of LEO-DOS, we conducted a radiation dose estimation study based on the initial results of LEO-DOS, measured from June 2023 to September 2023. The study considered four source categories: (i) galactic cosmic ray particles; (ii) the South Atlantic Anomaly region of the inner radiation belt (IRB); (iii) relativistic electrons and/or bremsstrahlung in the outer radiation belt (ORB); and (iv) solar energetic particle (SEP) events.