Speaker
Description
As a response to an ESA call a contracted R&D activity was done with ambition to develop new efficient, lightweight radiation shielding solution for electronic components on GEO telecommunication satellites. Based on physical understanding of interactions of space radiations with different target materials an optimized combination of low and high Z material composite structure was developed. For optimization we have used Geant4, HZETRN2015 and Shieldose2 transport codes. During the implementation phase, composite plates with the specified material compositions were fabricated, along with several electronic circuits designed to facilitate the analysis of operational characteristics at both the component and system levels under radiation-exposed conditions. Our novel shielding materials were tested for total ionizing dose reduction capabilities using electrons from a LINAC electron accelerator. For the proton irradiation tests, access was available only to infrastructure providing monoenergetic beams, through the RADNEXT program. Consequently, Single Event Effect (SEE) testing was carried out using a custom-designed electronic system specifically developed for this purpose. In the framework of the RADNEXT program we also have done LET efficiency test of our shieldings using 120 MeV protons at the Holland Proton Therapeutic Center (HollnadPTC) using etched track detectors. During the test program we identified some disturbance origin from the test setup but still, measurements seem to show quite a good agreement with the model calculations.