Dangerous cosmic rays are increasing: NASA

Cosmic rays from outer space that can harm astronauts and spacecrafts significantly are increasing and now at a "space age" high, NASA researchers have said. The cosmic ray intensity in 2009 is at a "space age" high, said Richard Mewaldt, one of the scientists analysing data received from NASA's Advanced Composition Explorer spacecraft which is in solar orbit about a million miles from the earth.

"The intensity is actually about 20 per cent higher than solar-minimum periods of recent decades, and if this trend continues, NASA may want to reconsider how much shielding is required if astronauts return to the moon," said Mewaldt from California Institute of Technology. Cosmic rays are very-high-energy particles that originate in explosions of massive stars elsewhere in the Milky Way galaxy. They travel at nearly the speed of light and strike the Earth from all directions, The Washington Post said.

Source: Economic Times, Dated: 10.12.2009