Iron fluxes from Ariel-6 workshop ICRC, Dublin, August 1991

Abstract The workshop is concerned with the re-evaluation of radiation levels due to cosmic ray primaries in space, so as to provide the best estimates of the radiation hazard for manned space flights to the vicinity of Mars. This will determine the amount of shielding required. As has been recognized for at least 30 yr, the Fe component is the most important single source of the radiation damage—it is abundant, it has high ionization loss and gives tracks with high LET that have a “quality factor”, QF, equal to 20 for radiation hazard estimates. Hitherto, cosmic ray charge spectra have been obtained using Fe or Si as a substandard, with the absolute flux values being somewhat uncertain. Hence this workshop and hence our response to it.