what are cosmic rays?

Our atmosphere protects us from a hostile space radiation environment - high energy particles of solar and intergalactic origin

• Solar radiation is significant during unpredictable and short lived solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs).
• Galactic cosmic radiation (GCR) is omnipresent. The GCR intensity varies with latitude, longitude, and time of year due to effects of solar activity on the interplanetary magnetic field.

Space radiation collides with gases in the atmosphere, leading to a complex shower of high energy radiation, the intensity and composition of which varies spatially and temporally.

predictive models

Excessive exposure to radiation can damage DNA and lead to long-term health effects such as an increased risk of cancer.

Radiation levels at altitudes used by commercial aircraft are greater than at sea level due to cosmic rays. Aircrew are classified as radiation workers in some countries; however, planning to limit their exposure, and monitoring, is generally lacking.

Both real-time measurements and predictive models of radiation in the atmosphere are important to mitigate the radiation risk to assets and crew.

Amentum Aerospace has developed a web API based on the PARMA and CARI-7 parameterised models of GCR induced radiation in the atmosphere. The API provides radiation doses and other quantities on a particular date, latitude, longitude, and altitude.

Read the open API documentation here, and register for access here.