Speaker
Description
The Miniaturized Detector for Application in Space (MIDAS) is developed in response to the requirement of the European Space Agency for a device whose size, power consumption and radiation data output would increase the level of space-flight crew autonomy regarding operational decisions related to radiation hazards. It is based on fully depleted active Si pixel sensors for measuring LET and dose in Si and on neutron-gamma discriminating plastic scintillator read by Silicon Photomultiplier (SiPM) for measuring neutron energy spectra. The silicon pixel sensors are constructed in a standard CMOS process using high resistivity p-type substrate and deep n-type implants with the readout circuits in n and p-type wells on top of these implants. A first version has undergone electrical characterization and a second one is under construction. The plastic Scintillator/SiPM detector has been used to measure the spectrum of a Cf252 source. GEANT4 has been used to study the reconstruction of Galactic Cosmic Ray particle tracks from the Si-pixel detector information. Reconstructed tracks and energy depositions are used to predict the experimental Linear Energy Transfer (LET) and, finally, a conversion function to LET in water is determined. In addition, the device response in a typical radiation field inside a spacecraft has been studied. Particle identification and kinetic energy determination should be beneficial for the evaluation of dose equivalent using the NASA quality factors. For this reason, a preliminary study using artificial intelligence tools gave promising results both for particle identification and kinetic energy discrimination.
