From the Editors
Contrary to popular belief, space is not a void. Energetic particles continually speed through the galaxy, bouncing off planetary atmospheres, lingering in magnetic pockets, or passing inexorably through everything in their paths. Like the gremlins of yore, these particles wreak havoc on space electronics, causing flip-flops in memory bits, sending systems into diagnostic mode, and causing circuits to latch up and burn out.
Understanding the behavior of such particles is obviously important to satellite designers. But developing an effective model requires extensive flight data and on-orbit sensing. Aerospace has used its unique resources to conduct the necessary testing, establishing models of particle fluxes that have benefited military, civil, and commercial systems alike.
Modeling the environment is only half the battle. Program managers need to know how well (and how long) their hardware and materials will survive in a given orbit—before launching anything into space. Here again, independent research at Aerospace has yielded tangible benefits. Aerospace helped codify design techniques that achieve some level of radiation resistance without the high cost of traditional processing. Laser simulation of space radiation has helped validate this approach while assessing the suitability of microelectronic parts. Cyclotron testing has helped designers accept or reject critical components, frequently showing that the cost of early testing can pay huge dividends overall.
This issue of Crosslink will help readers appreciate the diverse nature of space environment studies and the importance of accurate models and test methods.
