Study of the Space Radiation Environment in GEO

Examination Thesis from the year 2009 in the subject Physics - Electrodynamics, The University of Surrey, course: Electronic Engineering, language: English, abstract: The Space radiation environment in GEO has always been a severe challenge to the spacecraft industry. The Spacecraft Environment interaction has been the topic of deep investigation since 1970s to onwards. Very harsh space environment affects the spacecraft in various ways. The current project presents an overview of the characteristics of space radiation environment, its effects on spacecraft electronics and spacecraft operations. The elements of the space radiation environment such as Galactic Cosmic Rays (GCRs), Solar flare protons and trapped electron belt in GEO are explained comprehensively. The effects of hazardous space radiation environment on a GEO spacecraft including spacecraft charging, Total Ionizing Dose (TID), internal charging and Single Event Effects (SEE) are introduced with necessary details. The space radiation environment models currently available are critically analysed and explained in the light of the work of different space researchers. The limitations and risks involved with these models are briefly introduced. The spacecraft design mitigation techniques and design guidelines are presented to help the spacecraft community build the spacecraft capable of surviving in hazardous radiation environment. Then some case studies of GEO satellite anomalies are also briefly explained. The ESA based Space Environment Information System (SPENVIS) software package is utilized for analyzing the temporal, spatial and diurnal variations of radiation environment in geostationary orbit and the simulation results are compared with GOES data. A detailed space radiation environment analysis for a Pakistani geostationary communication satellite Paksat-1R has been undertaken including the trapped electron flux estimation, solar proton flux estimation, Solar cell degradation and cover glass requirements, dose-depth curve for estimating the shielding level required for spacecraft protection and SEU rates calculations of different devices. The necessary comments and suggestions are also included with the analysis.