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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 271 records · Page 15

PE99155 Point-Of-Load Buck Regulator Total Ionizing Dose Test Report

Teledyne’s PE99155 point-of-load buck regulator was tested to evaluate an applicationspecific question about the start-up behavior of the device. This test determined if accumulated total ionizing dose (TID) affected any start-up voltage transient characteristics. Testing was based on pass/fail criterial for the magnitude of the output voltage to ensure the safety of downstream electronics. Two sets of radiation tests were performed. The first group of PE99155s used a high dose rate (HDR) irradiation to 25 krad(Si). A second group of PE99155s used high dose rate irradiation to 30 krad(Si).

TID↗

A Nuclear Interaction Model for Understanding Results of Single Event Testing with High Energy Protons

An internuclear cascade and evaporation model has been adapted to estimate the LET spectrum generated during testing with 200 MeV protons. The model-generated heavy ion LET spectrum is compared to the heavy ion LET spectrum seen on orbit. This comparison is the basis for predicting single event failure rates from heavy ions using results from a single proton test. Of equal importance, this spectra comparison also establishes an estimate of the risk of encountering a failure mode on orbit that was not detected during proton testing. Verification of the general results of the model is presented based on experiments, individual part test results, and flight data. Acceptance of this model and its estimate of remaining risk opens the hardware verification philosophy to the consideration of radiation testing with high energy protons at the board and box level instead of the more standard method of individual part testing with low energy heavy ions.

Culpepper, William X.↗

Radiation Hardness Assurance: Evolving for NewSpace

During the past decade, government agencies, private companies and academic institutions, have launched hundreds of small satellites into space, with dramatically expanded dependence on advanced commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) technologies and systems required for mission success. While the radiation effects vulnerabilities of components within small satellites are the same as those of their larger, traditional relatives, revised approaches are needed for risk management because of differences in technical requirements and programmatic resources. While moving to COTS components and systems may reduce direct costs and procurement lead times, it undermines many cost-reduction strategies used for conventional radiation hardness assurance (RHA). Limited resources are accompanied by a lack of radiation testing and analysis, which can pose significant risks. Small satellites have benefited from short mission durations in low Earth orbits with respect to their radiation response, but as mission objectives grow and become reliant on advanced technologies operating for longer and in harsher environments, requirements need to reflect the changing scope without hindering developers that provide new capabilities. In this course we suggest RHA strategies that engineers and scientists can apply to a wide range of aerospace systems, including constellations, with a focus on how to manage aggressive system scaling for smaller platforms.

Radiation Hardness Assurance (RHA)↗

Considerations for a Proton Single Event Effects (SEE) Guideline

The intent of this document is to provide guidance on when and what type of SEE tests should be performed on a device under test (DUT) based on orbit, technology, existing data, and application. It is NOT intended to provide a detailed guideline for how to perform proton SEE radiation tests on electronics.

LaBel, Kenneth A.↗

Considerations for a Proton Single Event Effects (SEE) Guideline

The intent of this document is to provide guidance on when and what type of -SEE tests should be performed on a device under test (OUT) based on orbit, technology, existing data, and application. It is NOT intended to provide a detailed guideline for how to perform proton SEE radiation tests on electronics.

LaBel, Kenneth A.↗

Non-Volatile Memory Radiation Update

This work provides a current update of radiation testing activities on non-volatile memories in support of the NEPP program. Single-event effects data from heavy-ion testing is highlighted on two off-the-shelf high-speed memory modules.

Flash↗

Research and test facilities for development of technologies and experiments with commercial applications

One of NASA'S agency-wide goals is the commercial development of space. To further this goal NASA is implementing a policy whereby U.S. firms are encouraged to utilize NASA facilities to develop and test concepts having commercial potential. Goddard, in keeping with this policy, will make the facilities and capabilities described in this document available to private entities at a reduced cost and on a noninterference basis with internal NASA programs. Some of these facilities include: (1) the Vibration Test Facility; (2) the Battery Test Facility; (3) the Large Area Pulsed Solar Simulator Facility; (4) the High Voltage Testing Facility; (5) the Magnetic Field Component Test Facility; (6) the Spacecraft Magnetic Test Facility; (7) the High Capacity Centrifuge Facility; (8) the Acoustic Test Facility; (9) the Electromagnetic Interference Test Facility; (10) the Space Simulation Test Facility; (11) the Static/Dynamic Balance Facility; (12) the High Speed Centrifuge Facility; (13) the Optical Thin Film Deposition Facility; (14) the Gold Plating Facility; (15) the Paint Formulation and Application Laboratory; (16) the Propulsion Research Laboratory; (17) the Wallops Range Facility; (18) the Optical Instrument Assembly and Test Facility; (19) the Massively Parallel Processor Facility; (20) the X-Ray Diffraction and Scanning Auger Microscopy/Spectroscopy Laboratory; (21) the Parts Analysis Laboratory; (22) the Radiation Test Facility; (23) the Ainsworth Vacuum Balance Facility; (24) the Metallography Laboratory; (25) the Scanning Electron Microscope Laboratory; (26) the Organic Analysis Laboratory; (27) the Outgassing Test Facility; and (28) the Fatigue, Fracture Mechanics and Mechanical Testing Laboratory.

Source record↗

Mars Radiator Characterization Experimental Program

Radiators are an enabling technology for the human exploration and development of the moon and Mars. As standard components of the heat rejection subsystem of space vehicles, radiators are used to reject waste heat to space and/or a planetary environment. They are typically large components of the thermal control system for a space vehicle or human habitation facility, and in some cases safety factors are used to oversize them when the operating environment cannot be fully characterized. Over-sizing can impose significant weight and size penalties that might be prohibitive for future missions. Radiator performance depends on the size of the radiator surface, its emittance and absorptance, the radiator temperature, the effective sky temperature surrounding the radiator, solar radiation and atmospheric irradiation levels, convection to or from the atmosphere (on Mars), and other conditions that could affect the nature of the radiator surface, such as dust accumulation. Most particularly, dust is expected to be a major contributor to the local environmental conditions on either the lunar or Martian surface. This conclusion regarding Mars is supported by measurements of dust accumulation on the Mars Sojourner Rover solar array during the Pathfinder mission. This Final Report describes a study of the effect of Martian dust accumulation on radiator performance. It is comprised of quantitative measurements of effective emittance for a range of dust accumulation levels on surfaces of known emittance under clean conditions. The test radiator coatings were Z-93P, NS-43G, and Silver Teflon (10 mil) film. The Martian dust simulant was Carbondale Red Clay. Results were obtained under vacuum conditions sufficient to reduce convection effects virtually to zero. The experiments required the development of a calorimetric apparatus that allows simultaneous measurements of the effective emittance for all the coatings at each set of experimental conditions. A method of adding dust to multiple radiator coupons was developed and shown to be capable of depositing dust on the surfaces with acceptable uniformity. In these experiments, the dust layer accumulates under earth gravity and in the presence of an earth atmosphere. An invention disclosure for the dust deposition apparatus is being filed through NASA and University of Houston.

Witte, Larry C.↗

Single Event Effects in Highly Scaled Devices for Space Applications

This paper discusses single-event upset (SEU) in memories and microprocessors that are the "drivers" of highly scaled commercial integrated circuits. Despite the decrease in critical charge that occurs for highly scaled CMOS devices, recent test data has shown that SEU rates are actually somewhat lower for scaled devices compared to older devices with larger feature size. Hard errors, which are increasingly important for memories, are discussed along with conventional soft errors. Functional errors in memories and microprocessors are particularly significant, and tend to dominate the response of highly scaled devices from an application standpoint. Predictions for future devices are made using the Semiconductor Industry Roadmap along with recent modeling and radiation test results.

microelectronics↗

Review and Performance Testing of the Optical Power Monitor (PMON)

The LISA mission requires a high precision optical power monitoring and control system that combines high reliability and measurement accuracy with extremely low disturbance to the core interferometric detection system. NASA is working with Avo Photonics to design and build this optical power monitor, known as PMON. The high-level design requirements take into account detector redundancy, mechanical rigidity, stability against temperature and input alignment changes, parasitic scatter and reflection artifacts, as well as low magnetic field. Gamma and Proton radiation tests have been performed on the photodiodes from a few vendors to verify radiation tolerance. Engineering development units of the PMON have been fabricated, delivered and evaluated at NASA.

Hua Jiao↗

Microcircuit radiation effects databank

Radiation test data submitted by many testers is collated to serve as a reference for engineers who are concerned with and have some knowledge of the effects of the natural radiation environment on microcircuits. Total dose damage information and single event upset cross sections, i.e., the probability of a soft error (bit flip) or of a hard error (latchup) are presented.

Source record↗

Radiation Hardness Assurance: Evolving for NewSpace

During the past decade, numerous small satellites have been launched into space, with dramatically expanded dependence on advanced commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) technologies and systems required for mission success. While the radiation effects vulnerabilities of small satellites are the same as those of their larger, traditional relatives, revised approaches are needed for risk management because of differences in technical requirements and programmatic resources. While moving to COTS components and systems may reduce direct costs and procurement lead times, it undermines many cost-reduction strategies used for conventional radiation hardness assurance (RHA). Limited resources are accompanied by a lack of radiation testing and analysis, which can pose significant risks - or worse, be neglected altogether. Small satellites have benefited from short mission durations in low Earth orbits with respect to their radiation response, but as mission objectives grow and become reliant on advanced technologies operating for longer and in harsher environments, requirements need to reflect the changing scope without hindering developers that provide new capabilities.

Radiation Hardness Assurance (RHA)↗

Radiation Hardness Assurance: Evolving for NewSpace

During the past decade, numerous small satellites have been launched into space, with dramatically expanded dependence on advanced commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) technologies and systems required for mission success. While the radiation effects vulnerabilities of small satellites are the same as those of their larger, traditional relatives, revised approaches are needed for risk management because of differences in technical requirements and programmatic resources. While moving to COTS components and systems may reduce direct costs and procurement lead times, it undermines many cost-reduction strategies used for conventional radiation hardness assurance (RHA). Limited resources are accompanied by a lack of radiation testing and analysis, which can pose significant risks—or worse, be neglected altogether. Small satellites have benefited from short mission durations in low Earth orbits with respect to their radiation response, but as mission objectives grow and become reliant on advanced technologies operating for longer and in harsher environments, requirements need to reflect the changing scope without hindering developers that provide new capabilities.

Radiation Hardness Assurance (RHA)↗

Case Study of Using High Performance Commercial Processors in a Space Environment

The purpose of the Space Shuttle Cockpit Avionics Upgrade project was to reduce crew workload and improve situational awareness. The upgrade was to augment the Shuttle avionics system with new hardware and software. A major success of this project was the validation of the hardware architecture and software design. This was significant because the project incorporated new technology and approaches for the development of human rated space software. An early version of this system was tested at the Johnson Space Center for one month by teams of astronauts. The results were positive, but NASA eventually cancelled the project towards the end of the development cycle. The goal to reduce crew workload and improve situational awareness resulted in the need for high performance Central Processing Units (CPUs). The choice of CPU selected was the PowerPC family, which is a reduced instruction set computer (RISC) known for its high performance. However, the requirement for radiation tolerance resulted in the reevaluation of the selected family member of the PowerPC line. Radiation testing revealed that the original selected processor (PowerPC 7400) was too soft to meet mission objectives and an effort was established to perform trade studies and performance testing to determine a feasible candidate. At that time, the PowerPC RAD750s where radiation tolerant, but did not meet the required performance needs of the project. Thus, the final solution was to select the PowerPC 7455. This processor did not have a radiation tolerant version, but faired better than the 7400 in the ability to detect failures. However, its cache tags did not provide parity and thus the project incorporated a software strategy to detect radiation failures. The strategy was to incorporate dual paths for software generating commands to the legacy Space Shuttle avionics to prevent failures due to the softness of the upgraded avionics.

Ferguson, Roscoe C.↗

Case Study of Using High Performance Commercial Processors in Space

The purpose of the Space Shuttle Cockpit Avionics Upgrade project (1999 2004) was to reduce crew workload and improve situational awareness. The upgrade was to augment the Shuttle avionics system with new hardware and software. A major success of this project was the validation of the hardware architecture and software design. This was significant because the project incorporated new technology and approaches for the development of human rated space software. An early version of this system was tested at the Johnson Space Center for one month by teams of astronauts. The results were positive, but NASA eventually cancelled the project towards the end of the development cycle. The goal to reduce crew workload and improve situational awareness resulted in the need for high performance Central Processing Units (CPUs). The choice of CPU selected was the PowerPC family, which is a reduced instruction set computer (RISC) known for its high performance. However, the requirement for radiation tolerance resulted in the re-evaluation of the selected family member of the PowerPC line. Radiation testing revealed that the original selected processor (PowerPC 7400) was too soft to meet mission objectives and an effort was established to perform trade studies and performance testing to determine a feasible candidate. At that time, the PowerPC RAD750s were radiation tolerant, but did not meet the required performance needs of the project. Thus, the final solution was to select the PowerPC 7455. This processor did not have a radiation tolerant version, but had some ability to detect failures. However, its cache tags did not provide parity and thus the project incorporated a software strategy to detect radiation failures. The strategy was to incorporate dual paths for software generating commands to the legacy Space Shuttle avionics to prevent failures due to the softness of the upgraded avionics.

Ferguson, Roscoe C.↗

Goal Structuring Notation in a Radiation Hardening Assurance Case for COTS-Based Spacecraft

A systematic approach is presented to constructing a radiation assurance case using Goal Structuring Notation (GSN) for spacecraft containing COTS parts. The GSN paradigm is applied to an SRAM single-event upset experiment board designed to fly on a CubeSat in January 2017. A custom software language for development of a GSN assurance case is under development at Vanderbilt. Construction of a radiation assurance case without use of hardened parts or extensive radiation testing is discussed.

Radiation Effects Modeling (REM)↗

Leak rate measurements for satellite subsystems and residual gas analysis during space environment tests

The measuring and evaluation procedure for the determination of leak rates of satellite subsystems with a quadrupole mass spectrometer, and the results of the residual gas analysis are described. The method selected for leak rate determination was placing the system into a vacuum chamber and furnishing the chamber with a mass spectrometer and calibrated leaks. The residual gas of a thermal vacuum test facility, in which the thermal balance test radiation input was simulated by a heated canister, was analyzed with the mass spectrometer in the atomic mass unit range up to 300 amu. In addition to the measurements during the space environment tests, mass spectrometric studies were performed with samples of spacecraft materials. The studies were carried out during tests for the projects HELIOS, AEROS B and SYMPHONIE.

Nuss, H. E.↗

VIRTEX-4 VQ static SEU Characterization Summary

This report is the result of the combined efforts of members within the Xilinx Radiation Test Consortium (XRTC), sometimes known as the Xilinx SEE Test Consortium. The XRTC is a voluntary association of aerospace entities, including leading aerospace companies, universities and national laboratories, combining resources to characterize reconfigurable FPGAs for aerospace applications. Previous publications of Virtex-4 radiation results are for commercial (non-epitaxial) devices; see, for example, Refs. 1-4. A notable exception is Ref. 5, which presents XRTC upset measurements of storage elements in the PowerPC405s in the XQR4VFX60. This report of upset susceptibility to heavy ions and protons of the static memory elements in the Virtex-4QV family is a direct parallel to the XRTC report on the thin epitaxial devices in the Virtex-2 family released four years ago.

field programmable gate array (FPGA)↗