MINIATURISED RADIATION MONITOR (ARTES AT 4A.070)

Description

Objective: The objective of this activity is to design, develop and test a small (< 0.2 kg) radiation monitor capable of broad sensing of energetic charged particles for GEO telecommunication mission and electric propulsion orbit raising.

Targeted Improvements: An order of magnitude reduction in the mass and volume as compared to present-day radiation monitors. Lower complexity and replacement of expensive materials compared to solution available today.

Description:

Space radiation measurements are a critical input for recurrent issues including spacecraft anomaly diagnosis, environmental specification validation, and investigation of margins that potentially lead to overdesign against radiation. Radiation monitors prove very useful for these purposes, but systematic accommodation is hampered by power/mass/data requirements, potential high unit cost, and integration costs. Small radiation monitors are of interest to industry and commercial customers who are usually put off by the size, cost and interfacing complexity of such devices. A Highly Miniaturised Radiation Monitor (HMRM) was designed and prototyped in a previous ESA study, based on mixed ASIC sensors which is a technology developed for the high energy physics field (LHC).

A demonstrator of the HRMs is flying on the UK TecDemoSat. Other projects have developed similar technology, for instance the CERN-originated MediPix CCD-based sensor was prototyped under the Czech Industry Incentive Scheme on the SATRAM instrument flown on Proba-V. Radiation monitor builds on ASIC or CCD detector technology lead to small detectors with an order of magnitude reduction in the mass and volume as compared to present-day radiation monitors, and with lower complexity. Such miniaturized radiation monitoring devices are expected to be essential to be embarked on all telecom spacecrafts using electric propulsion orbit raising. Building on the previous European efforts, a small (<0.2 kg) radiation monitor shall be designed, developed and manufactured. Such device shall be capable of accurate radiation flux and spectrum measurements during GEO missions compatible with typical telecom platforms requirements (e.g. voltages, thermal and mechanical environment and telemetry bus etc.).

A miniaturised radiation monitor engineering model shall be designed, developed and manufactured. Tests shall be conducted to demonstrate the development concept and to validate the expected performances.

Tender Specifics