Does anybody here have experience with Cubesat (or any satellite) electronics
in LEO? I’m starting to look at this and comparing rad hard vs COTS with and
without shielding. Rad hard options are crazy expensive and low performance
compare to COTS, but I am worried about radiation for a satellite that could
be out there for a while.
Our joke used to be that in the worst case we’d just drop the boards in a lead
block and flight that, but now I am reading that lead is actually not used that
much because it’s too soft, so instead they use tantalum, tungsten, or just
thicker aluminum. But then I continue reading and it turns out that materials
high in hydrogen are better, so they are starting to recommend polyethylene
(HDPE) instead of metals? And then the latest is that HDPE combined with a
metal liner is actually even better because the metal captures secondary
radiation. What the hell? This is all very confusing.
Cheers,
Ian
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Ian M Garcia