Goddard Engineering and Technology Directorate

Radiation Effects and Analysis

Finite Element Model (FEM) of the Hubble Space Telescope. Credit NASA

End-to-End Radiation Engineering

The Radiation Effects and Analysis Group (REAG) at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center has provided leadership in radiation effects to NASA, commercial partners, industry leaders, other government agencies, and academia for decades. The team supports in- and out-of-house developments with environmental modelling, radiation assessments and testing, requirements generation and verification, system analyses, mitigations, and strategic recommendations for radiation hardness assurance. The engineers regularly provide oversight, obtain insight, or support the best practices of commercial partners to maximize joint success.

Extensive Testing Expertise

REAG has 30+ years of radiation effects characterization data archived through Goddard’s Radiation Data Base. The team regularly travels to high- and medium-energy domestic cyclotron and synchrotron facilities to perform heavy-ion single-event effects (SEE) testing on electronic parts, components, and small assemblies. When total ionizing dose testing or low-energy proton, electron, or ion testing is appropriate the engineers utilize the in-house Radiation Effects Facility at the Goddard Space Flight Center.

The Radiation Effects and Analysis Group (REAG) engineers regularly travel to the NASA Space Radiation Lab (NSRL, pictured) to perform high-energy heavy-ion testing on electronics.
The Radiation Effects and Analysis Group (REAG) engineers regularly travel to the NASA Space Radiation Lab (NSRL, pictured) to perform high-energy heavy-ion testing on electronics.

REAG’s test and analysis expertise features prominently at international conferences, symposia, and workshops, and our engineers regularly disseminate technical leadership through the hands-on Single-Event Effects Bootcamp at Texas A&M University and development of numerous Guidelines and Standards documents.

Decapsulated microcontrollers specially prepared for radiation effects testing.
Decapsulated microcontrollers specially prepared for radiation effects testing.

Environmental Modelling and Characterization

The engineers are skilled with the industry’s standard models to characterize the radiation effects environment, including trapped protons and electrons, solar protons and heavy ions, and galactic cosmic rays. Probabilistic radiation environments are communicated to project stakeholders and subsystem developers to accurately reflect the expected radiation environment, and where beneficial, high-resolution radiation transport analyses bring that environment down to the part level to minimize unnecessary conservatism.

From M. Xapsos “New Approach to Total Dose Specification for Spacecraft Electronics,” an illustration of a failure probability distribution with varied spacecraft shielding for different environments.
From M. Xapsos “New Approach to Total Dose Specification for Spacecraft Electronics,” an illustration of a failure probability distribution with varied spacecraft shielding for different environments.

Technology Development and Partnerships

The Radiation Effects and Analysis Group has long partnered directly with government, industry, and academia to develop and characterize new technologies evaluate complex state-of-the-art systems, and share best practices with commercial partners. The team employs Space Act Agreements, Interagency Agreements, Government Task Agreements, as well as informal collaborations on a regular basis.

Modern Tools for Radiation Hardness Assurance

REAG engineers have experience advancing the field of model-based mission assurance in partnership with Vanderbilt University and the NASA Electronic Parts and Packaging program. Tools like the Systems Engineering and Assurance Modelling (SEAM) tool use goal-structured notation (GSN) to build radiation assurance case models, propagate faults, and explore functional and architectural designs of advanced spaceflight systems.

Advancing Space Technology Through Open Radiation Effects Leadership

ETD’s Radiation Effects and Analysis Group (REAG) stands as a uniquely valuable center of radiation effects engineering expertise. For decades, REAG has been recognized as a global leader and technical authority in an emerging field. REAG’s commitment to open data is a model for the radiation effects community, and is a regular publisher of radiation test data, as well as guidelines, standards, and publications that benefit the entire aerospace community.
 
This leadership role has become increasingly important as the industry pivots toward commercial-first spaceflight architectures that rely not upon traditional radiation-hardened-by-design (RHBD) parts custom-built to military specification and assured for complete radiation immunity, but on off-the-shelf solutions that are designed, assessed, and/or tested for appropriate tolerance of a radiation environment. NASA’s commercial partners benefit from this shared knowledge, cementing the group’s position as the authoritative source for radiation effects data and test methodology. REAG’s extensive publication history, established partnerships, and comprehensive radiation effects expertise represent an invaluable resource for radiation hardness assurance, single event effects testing, total ionizing dose characterization, displacement damage assessment, and radiation environment modeling that continues to advance spacecraft reliability in the challenging space radiation environment.

Radiation Effects and Analysis is managed by ETD’s Electrical Engineering Division (EED). Contact EED for more information.