At present, the Sun is very active – a surface covered with
sunspots, frequent ejections of matter and a stronger solar wind blowing
towards Earth. In the meantime, however, radiation exposure at aircraft cruising
altitudes has reduced. This interesting phenomenon has now been confirmed by
researchers at the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und
Raumfahrt; DLR) using the Falcon research aircraft.
"At DLR, we have been investigating radiation exposure
at cruising altitudes since 2004," says Matthias Meier, Head of the
Radiation Protection in Aviation group at the DLR Institute of Aerospace
Medicine. "Already, previous measurements gave no cause for concern; now,
we have been able to observe the lowest radiation levels so far."