LDEF Satellite Radiation Analyses

Abstract

This report covers work performed by Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) under contract NAS8-39386 from the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center entitled LDEF Satellite Radiation Analyses. The basic objective of the study was to evaluate the accuracy of present models and computational methods for defining the ionizing radiation environment for spacecraft in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) by making comparisons with radiation measurements made on the Long Duration Exposure Facility (LDEF) satellite, which was recovered after almost six years in space. The emphasis of the work here is on predictions and comparisons with LDEF measurements of induced radioactivity and Linear Energy Transfer (LET) measurements. These model/data comparisons have been used to evaluate the accuracy of current models for predicting the flux and directionality of trapped protons for LEO missions.