Technical Research on ISS Russian Segment

LAZIO Experiment

Experiment LAZIO forms part of the scientific research program performed by Italian Astronaut Roberto Vittori (ESA) on the ISS in the frame of ENEIDE ISM Project. The European Space Agency is a customer of the preparation and implementation of the research program.

Objective:

A detailed study and understanding of the radiation environment in space, its interaction with the earth magnetosphere and its effects on human physiology

Tasks:

Record, identify and measure flows of charged particles with the determination of their direction
Measure intensity of the magnetic field within the ISS and its changes
Record phosphene (Light Flash) by the astronaut
Verify the effect of different shielding materials to reducing the radiation environment.

Used Science Hardware:

Main Electronic Box (MEB) with Magnetometer Box (MB) and Magnetometer Head (MH);
LAZIO Kit 1:

Visiting Time Kit:
- PCMCIA cards 4GB (10 items);
- Memory card CF 256 MB;
- PCMCIA card 512MB;
- Voice cassettes (5 items);
- Dosimeter tiles.
Increment 11 Kit.

LAZIO Kit 2:
- Alkaline Battery AA (4 items);
- Tape recorder AIWA;
- Joystick;
- Spare fuse;
- Light Shielding Mask.
Kit LAZIO-MB;
Magnetometer head kit;
AST spectrometer.

To meet the first goal it is planned to use a high performance cosmic ray detector (MEB)

To meet the second goal a high precision low frequency magnetometer EGLE is used, which is composed of EGLE magnetometer box (MB) and EGLE magnetometer head (MH).

To meet the third goal (verification of the hypothesis that Light Flashes observation frequency decreases with permanence in space) it is planned to use LAZIO Kit 2. These investigations will continue the experiment started during the previous flight of Italian astronaut Roberto Vittori (Marco Polo Project, VC-3, 2002).

To perform high quality tests of the effect of different kind of shielding on the cosmic ray radiation field (forth task) AST spectrometer will be used, which was delivered to the ISS RS in the frame of the Marco Polo project.