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We provide consulting services to Aerospace companies and agencies in support of space radiation effects. These are effects that are caused by the natural space radiation environment (trapped particle belts, galactic cosmics rays and solar flare particles). In this work, we do a wide variety of activities, including: evaluate electronic/photonic designs for radiation tolerance, make measurements on electronic/photonic devices, make predictions of event rates for single event effects, make predictions of total dose tolerance lifetimes, model the space radiation environment, write reports, provide tutorials and talks, and generally help our customers understand space radiation and its effects.
The space radiation environment consists of many different components. The one that most people have heard of is the Van Allen belts. These are belts of trapped particles that surround the earth. They consist mostly of trapped protons and electrons. Another source of space radiation is galactic cosmic rays (GCRs). GCRs are very high energy heavy ions that come from outside the near Earth environment and penetrate the geomagnetic shielding of the earth. Finally, the environment also contains solar flare particles. These are particles that are produced by the Sun when it is active. All of these particles can cause a variety of effects in the near earth space environment that are important to consider for space applications such as satellites, the international space station, the shuttle, and even high flying aircraft.
