Weekly Space Hangout: April 1, 2020 – Dr. Robert B. Hayes and Radiation Shielding in Space

Hosts: Fraser Cain (universetoday.com / @fcain)

Dr. Kimberly Cartier (KimberlyCartier.org / @AstroKimCartier )

Pam Hoffman (EverydaySpacer.com / @EverydaySpacer)

Michael Rodruck (@michaelrodruck)

Announcements:

This week we are airing Fraser’s prerecorded interview with Dr. Robert B. Hayes, Associate Professor of Nuclear Engineering at North Carolina State University. Dr. Hayes is co-author of a recent paper published January 7.

2020, in the journal Radiation Physics and Chemistry announcing the development of a new cost-effective technique for shielding military and space exploration electronics from the effects of ionizing radiation. According to Dr. Hayes, their approach “can be used to maintain the same level of radiation shielding and reduce the weight by 30% or more, or you could maintain the same weight and improve shielding by 30% or more – compared to the most widely used shielding techniques. Either way, our approach reduces the volume of space taken up by shielding.”

Dr. Hayes is a Certified Health Physicist and a licensed Professional Engineer (nuclear) with industry and field experience in radiological emergency response, nuclear waste management, nuclear safety, radiation dosimetry, nuclear criticality safety, air monitoring, ALARA and shielding design.

His research interests include nuclear nonproliferation, radiological emergency response and nuclear waste disposal technologies which are advanced using novel hybrid approaches including radiation detection, air monitoring, luminescence and magnetic resonance coupled with Monte Carlo radiation transport modeling.

To read the complete February 12, 2020, press release from NC State visit https://news.ncsu.edu/2020/02/smaller-lighter-radiation-shielding/

To learn more about Rob, visit https://www.ne.ncsu.edu/people/rbhayes/

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