Review of radiation hard electronics activities at European space agency

Abstract

Several Research and Development activities are ongoing at European Space Agency [1] to secure the supply of key electronic parts for current and future space avionics systems. Analogously to astro-particle and high-energy physics, the space missions radiation environment drives the radiation hardness requirements, which limits availability of suitable electronic components. In particular for the future ESA flagship Jupiter science mission, the necessary processing, reliability, mass, power performance requirements are difficult to meet with current components and systems with sufficient radiation tolerance margins. Improved radiation characterisation and modelling of the Jupiter radiation environment as well as operational radiation monitoring during the mission will be key in ensuring adequate margins for the operation of electronic components. © 2013 IOP Publishing Ltd and Sissa Medialab srl.