A one-day short course, “Radiation Hardness Assurance for Satellite Systems – From Macro to Nano,” will be presented at the 2017 IEEE Nuclear and Space Radiation Effects Conference (NSREC). This course will discuss Radiation Hardness Assurance for a wide range of space systems, starting with large- and medium-scale systems, and extending them to small satellites with reduced mass and lower overall cost. During the past decade, numerous small platforms have been launched into space, often using advanced Commercial-Off-the –Shelf (COTS) technologies. While the radiation effects vulnerabilities of small satellites are the same as those of their larger, traditional relatives, a revised approach is needed for risk management because of differences in technical requirements and programmatic resources for small satellites. This short course will benefit those new to the field by covering traditional hardness assurance methods. Hardness assurance approaches for highly scaled microelectronics will be included, an evolving topic which is of considerable interest to those experienced in the field.
The short course is organized into four sections. The first provides an overview of Total Ionizing Dose and Displacement Damage Dose (DDD), while the second provides an overview of Single-Event Effects (SEE). Each section will be introduced with sufficient background for those new to the community. The third section of the course discusses how traditional approaches can be modified to address state-of-the-art small platforms. A key factor is the difference in success criteria for small satellites compared to traditional platforms. The fourth section will address applied, practical approaches for hardness assurance in a wide variety of space systems, including real examples for small satellites.
This short course is intended for system designers, radiation effects engineers, component specialists, and other technical and management personnel who are involved in developing reliable systems designed to operate in radiation environments. It provides a unique opportunity for IEEE NSREC attendees to benefit from the expertise of the instructors, along with a critical review of state-of-the-art knowledge in the field. Electronic copies of detailed course notes will be provided at registration.
Continuing Education Units (CEUs)
For those interested in Continuing Education Units (CEUs), there will be an open-book exam at the end of the course. The course is valued at 0.6 CEUs, and is endorsed by the IEEE and by the International Association for Continuing Education and Training (IACET).
Short Course Chairman
Jonathan Pellish, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Short Course Chairman
Jonathan “Jonny” Pellish is an Associate Chief in the Electrical Engineering Division at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) in Greenbelt, Maryland. The Electrical Engineering Division provides expert leadership in the design, development, integration, and testing of flight electrical systems and associated technologies for GSFC and NASA missions. He received his B.S. (2004), M.S. (2006) and Ph.D. (2008) in physics and electrical engineering from Vanderbilt University. His technical interests span many space environment components and the resulting radiation effects in aerospace systems, with particular attention to hardness assurance methodologies for state-of-the-art technologies and system architectures. Jonny has authored or co-authored over 60 refereed publications in addition to numerous conference and workshop presentations. He is a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, and the IEEE Nuclear and Plasma Sciences Society.
Christian Poivey graduated from l’Institut des Sciences de l’Ingénieur (ISI) Clermont- Ferrand, France in 1985. After graduation he carried out research work on electrical simulation tools in the Commissariat à l’Energie Atomique (CEA) at Bruyeres Le Chatel, France. In 1988, he was awarded the degree of “docteur ingenieur” from the University of Clermont-Ferrand II for this work. He then joined Matra Marconi Space (MMS, now Airbus Defense & Space) in Velizy, France and served as a electronic parts engineer from 1988 to 1992. In 1992, he moved to the position of radiation effects engineer in the MMS radiation group and served there for eight years.
In 2000, Dr. Poivey joined the Radiation Effects and Analysis Group at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, USA. There he was the radiation lead on ST-5, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, and Magnetospheric MultiScale projects. During this time he conducted studies on Single-Event Effects (SEE) in linear devices, field programmable gate arrays, and flight data systems.
Since 2007, he has worked at the European Space Agency (ESA) in Noordwijk, The Netherlands, providing radiation hardness assurance (RHA) support to a variety of projects, including ALPHASAT, SWARM, the James Webb Space Telescope, MTG, MPCV/ORION, and JUICE. Dr. Poivey served as the lead for the European Cooperation for Space Standard (ECSS) RHA standard. Currently, he is leading two flight data experiments currently flying on the ALPHASAT and PROBA-2 missions.
Total Ionizing and Non-Ionizing Dose Radiation Hardness Assurance Christian Poivey European Space Agency
Dr. Christian Poivey, from the European Space Agency, will introduce Total Ionizing Dose and Total Non-Ionizing Dose (TNID) effects on electronic parts. He will present the basics of TID and TNID Radiation Hardness Assurance (RHA) for Space Systems, including a discussion of Radiation Design Margin (RDM) requirements. Systematic errors and uncertainties on the different inputs used to define TID and TNID RDM will be reviewed: mission radiation environment, radiation levels within the spacecraft, electrical, electronic, and electromechanical (EEE) parts radiation sensitivity, and circuit design. Finally, the challenges of adapting current TID and TNID RHA methodologies to small satellites will be presented, including the use of Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS) parts and performing radiation testing at the board level. Application examples will be also presented.
A top-level outline of the presentation is as follows:
Introduction
Overview of space radiation environment, TID, and TNID effects
Basics of TID and TNID RHA
Radiation design margin
Bounding EEE part radiation response
Bounding the radiation environment
Understanding the radiation environment at piece-part level
Challenges
New technologies
New platforms
Conclusions
Raymond Ladbury is a radiation engineer at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) in Greenbelt, Maryland. He specializes in radiation testing, data analysis and statistical modeling of radiation effects in complex electronics. He received his B.S. in Physics in 1982 from Colorado State University in Ft. Collins, Colorado and his Ph.D. in experimental particle physics in 1988 from the University of Colorado at Boulder.
After receiving his Ph.D., Dr. Ladbury worked as a science teacher trainer with the United States Peace Corps in the Savannah region of Togo in West Africa, as a professor of physics in the Appalachian region of Kentucky and an editor at Physics Today Magazine. Dr. Ladbury began his work in radiation effects at Hughes Space and Communications, Inc. in El Segundo, California in 1997 and has worked at GSFC since 2000.
Single-Event Effects Radiation Hardness Assurance Raymond Ladbury NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Dr. Ray Ladbury, from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Goddard Space Flight Center, will discuss Radiation Hardness Assurance (RHA) for Single-Event Effects (SEE) across the spectrum of satellite platforms, from national assets to small satellites. This part of the course first outlines the conventional SEE RHA approach, which emphasizes mission success. Next, Dr. Ladbury will discuss the challenges posed by new satellite platforms (e.g., cubesats, nanosats, etc.), where cost and schedule receive emphasis equal to if not greater than mission success.
These additional pressures, along with growing demands to reduce size, weight and power, coupled with increased performance, drive many projects toward expanding their use of commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) technologies. While this may reduce direct parts cost and procurement lead times, it undermines many cost-reduction strategies used for conventional SEE RHA and can make radiation testing and analysis one of the most significant risks—or worse, a risk neglected altogether. That section will end with some approaches for restoring balance in the troika of mission success, cost, and schedule. This is captured in SEE RHA as risk management: identify the threat, evaluate the threat, and mitigate the threat.
A top-level outline of the presentation is as follows:
Introduction
Preliminary Concepts
Types of SEE
Classical SEE RHA
Identify the threat
Requirements, environment, technology assessment and SEE vulnerability
Evaluate the threat
Proxy data, SEE test data, and analysis
Mitigate the threat
SEE-hardening strategies
New SEE challenges and opportunities
Challenges of COTS—profusion, complexity and testability
Challenges of new platforms—budget, error/failure tolerance and performance
Questioning assumptions—even fundamental ones
Conclusions
Michael Swartwout, is an associate professor and chair of the Department of Aerospace & Mechanical Engineering of Saint Louis University. His primary research area is the design and operation of small spacecraft, with a focus on the mission/risk/design implications of CubeSat-class missions. His lab tests these ideas through the design and flight of student-built CubeSats; they have two spacecraft launched and two more in preparation for flights in 2018. He earned his B.S. and M.S. in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Illinois, and his Ph.D. in Aeronautics and Astronautics from Stanford University. As a student, he was the project manager for Stanford’s Sapphire spacecraft, which was launched in 2001.
Introduction to Small Satellites and Correlation Factors for Mission Success Michael Swartwout Saint Louis University
Dr. Michael Swartwout, from Saint Louis University, will discuss the capabilities of today’s small spacecraft, which are quite different than they were a decade ago. New, unprecedented launch opportunities are available for such missions that reduce cost and increase schedule flexibility. Given such a dynamic field, it is important to provide clarity and context for spacecraft developers. This part of the course will review the field of small spacecraft, which we define as anything under 200 kg. Particular attention will be paid to CubeSat systems. We will introduce a taxonomy for describing such missions, and review the launch and onorbit history of the last twenty years, emphasizing mission capabilities and mission success. We will identify key factors that correlate to mission success.
A top-level outline of the presentation is as follows:
Goals for this section of the short course include:
Orientation of space activities
Where do we fly?
Budgets, expenses, and production volumes
Taxonomy of space missions with an emphasis on small/secondary spacecraft
Definitions for small satellites
What are secondary payloads?
Multi-mission launch trends
Who builds and flies small satellites?
Unique mission assurance challenges for small spacecraft
Mission status and success definitions
Launch and on-orbit data by developer classification
Quality assurance approaches, lessons learned, and implications for future developments
Conclusions
David Roth is a Principal Staff Radiation Engineer at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (JHU/APL). He received the Ph.D. in Physics from Clemson University in 1993 and remained at Clemson for several years as visiting faculty, teaching and conducting research in radiation effects in microelectronic structures. Dr. Roth joined JHU/APL in 1997 and has been a leader in studying radiation effects for both spacecraft and instruments, covering environments through transport modeling and testing of parts and materials. Notable programs have included the MESSENGER spacecraft to study Mercury and the New Horizons spacecraft to study Pluto and the Kuiper Belt. Dr. Roth has also participated in several collaborative research efforts, most notably a 12-year effort developing methods of detecting low, medium, and high energy neutrons produced in galactic cosmic ray interactions with shielding materials.
Design Principles for Radiation Hardness Assurance in Spacecraft Programs – From Macro to Nano David Roth Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab
Dr. David Roth, from the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab, will present radiation hardness assurance (RHA) design principles for mission success in a variety of spacecraft and instrument platforms. This presentation will come from a systems engineering point of view, leveraging information from the previous short course sections on how to manage risks for mission success. Topics covered will include radiation effects risk identification and risk management strategies, robust system design practices, and case studies of radiation mitigation for various spacecraft programs, including small satellites.
A top-level outline of the presentation is as follows:
Introduction
Coverage of space radiation environment and effects beyond scope of prior short course sections (e.g., surface and internal charging)
Satellite as a system
Robust system design practices
Top-down risk management
Requirements development and flow-down
Risks are additive
Examples of design phase case studies as well as operational anomaly investigations
