RIT SPEX CubeSat Initiative – Radiation Protection System: R Gap Analysis The goal of the RIT Space Exploration (or SPEX) team is to develop a CubeSat that uses the support and research of its students body so that RIT can have a greater presence in space in the future. One obstacle that will have to be addressed is how to prevent radiation from turning the CubeSat into space debris. Radiation in its many forms can be very harsh and unforgiving to electrical components. Current testing is being carried out using radiation barriers which enclose the electrical components in a CubeSat inside a radiation resistant box. If the radiation barrier method can be proved either more effective or less costly, it will prove to be the better choice over the current practice of radiation hardening. dfa Brendan Parke It would be more desirable to have a radiation barrier system that could protect all the electrical components in the CubeSat as opposed to having to RH each component. This would cut down significantly on lead time for this step of the design because CubeSats come in standardize sizes meaning that a manufacturing process could be set up to pump out sheets or sets of the barrier composite and have it on retainer. For testing, all that is needed are blank radiation hardened circuit boards and simple components so that the board can be tested after being dosed with radiation to see if it still works. Likewise, only small surface areas of the material would need to be fabricated for testing. The inside of a 5 sided lead box would be placed non-RH components with one face being the radiation barrier. Have a fleshed out testing procedure equip with testing metrics that can be used for future testing. Gather data on radiation resistances of each concept through testing. The goal of the MSD team is to benchmark and compare the lead time, resistance and cost difference between using either a radiation barrier or radiation hardened components an present the findings to the SPEX team in an organized manner. Currently, the main method to combat cosmic radiation is to use radiation hardened electrical components. The building of these components each require specialized manufacturing which has a long lead time. Building upon the research of CubeSat radiation barriers that have been developed in NASA’s Shields-1 CubeSat. The current issue with radiation hardening is that is a special process that is run with a no surplus style specialized manufacturing technique that makes it impossible for something to add post-purchasing the non- RH component. This creates the a long lead time for testing since testing cannot be run on the non-RH component on ground and then sent in to be RH. This also leaves a sizeable hole in the budget of any CubeSat design since it is very costly due to the overhead involved in the manufacturing. A manufacturing process that contains less overhead would be greatly beneficial for both parties involved. Fig 4: “Shields-1, a CubeSat with a radiation shielding research payload”. NASA, n.d. Web. 5 Mar Touch base with NASA LaRC’s CubeSat division to discuss use of current technology as well as information about using the tantalum radiofrequency application furnace. Contact Cornell or MIT to discuss use of their radiation test laboratories. Meet with SPEX team leads to relay the current cost analysis as well as keep them up to date on any possible findings. Discuss testing procedures as a team and set up a method for trial testing. Contact electronics vendors for radiation hardened circuit boards and simple components and industrial materials vendors regarding pricing for the composite layers of the radiation barrier. 3. Target State 1. Background 2. Initial State5. Proposals 6. Follow Up Fig 1:Functional Decomposition showing two of the possible avenues for radiation protection of the CubeSat. Fig 2: Some of the layup materials that would be used in the barrier. “Shields-1, a CubeSat with a radiation shielding research payload”. NASA, n.d. Web. 5 Mar Fig 3: An example of a radiation hardened electrical component. "Rad-hard Space Electronics Hit the Mainstream." - Military & Aerospace Electronics. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 May Fig 5: Schematic of the Shields-1 3U CubeSat that is being tested using radiation barriers. “Shields-1, a CubeSat with a radiation shielding research payload”. NASA, n.d. Web. 5 Mar