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The great cost of added radiation shielding is a potential limiting factor in many deep space missions. For this enabling technology, we are developing tools for optimized shield design over multi-segmented missions involving multiple work and living areas in the transport and duty phase of various space missions. The total shield mass over all pieces of equipment and habitats is optimized subject to career dose and dose rate constraints. Preliminary studies of deep space missions indicate that for long duration space missions, improved shield materials will be required. The details of this new method and its impact on space missions and other technologies will be discussed. This study will provide a vital tool for evaluating Gateway designs in their usage context. Providing protection against the hazards of space radiation is one of the challenges to the Gateway infrastructure designs.

All but a small fraction of human space radiation exposure has been in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) where significant protection from extraterrestrial ionizing radiation is provided as a result of its deflection in the Earth's magnetic field. The placement of a manned outpost at the L1 Lagrange Point could mark the first long-term venture into a “deep space” radiation environment, giving rise to the associated problems of long-term space exposure. One of the first issues to address is providing protection within an L1 station from a large solar particle event. A safe haven area could be used over the duration of the event or one may consider the sleep stations where it is already necessary to have added shielding. The surrounding bodies of other closely packed crewmembers in such a shelter are expected to provide a significant fraction of a crewmember's total shielding.