Baiocco and 25 co-authors of numerous Italian universities and space-related agencies reported in 2017 that as manned space flights beyond low Earth orbit are in the agenda of Space Agencies, the concerns related to space radiation exposure of the crew are still without conclusive solutions. The risk of long-term detrimental health effects needs to be kept below acceptable limits, and emergency countermeasures must be planned to avoid the short-term consequences of exposure to high particle fluxes during hardly predictable solar events.
[2019 Update: The research for this paper was likely designed and implemented before the early news of the astronaut "twins" study came out that serious repercussions of extend space flight have appeared in the "experimental twin" study (on Scott Kelly, or the twin who was on the ISS for a year. DNA damage and switching, some off, some remaining on upon coming back to Earth have become evident. Hopefully much of stress he has been experiencing will be relieved soon. What is clear, protection from radiation and the need for induced gravity have to be addressed if any extended space exploration is ever to go forward. See bottom of this review for additional links to related subjects. The video here captures his thoughts now that he is feeling better:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1GNi2Fuc78 ].
Space habitat shielding cannot be the ultimate solution: the increasing complexity of future missions will require astronauts to protect themselves in low-shielded areas, e.g. during emergency operations. Personal radiation shielding is promising, particularly if using available resources for multi-functional shielding devices. In this work the authors report on all steps from the conception, design, manufacturing, to the final test on board the International Space Station (ISS) of the first prototype of a water-filled garment for emergency radiation shielding against solar particle events. The garment has a good shielding potential and comfort level. On-board water is used for filling and then recycled without waste. The successful outcome of this experiment represents an important breakthrough in space radiation shielding, opening to the development of similarly conceived devices and their use in interplanetary missions as the one to Mars (2) (PDF) A water-filled garment to protect astronauts during interplanetary missions tested on board the ISS.
[See I2M WP Search Results: http://i2mportal.com/search_resource.php?search_value=Space+Twins+Study#page=1 ].
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