Increased demand for connectivity to high-speed data networks is leading to increased deployment of space platforms for services ranging from GPS to military intelligence to commercial high-speed data for home internet applications.
Outside the Earth’s atmosphere, though, the solar system is filled with radiation that can damage electronic devices. The effects range from degradation in performance to leakage currents, lowering the gain of a device, upsetting timing characteristics, and, in some cases, resulting in complete functional failure.
Radiation in space comes in many flavors, including electromagnetic waves and various energetic particles (Fig. 1). The Van Allen radiation belts around the Earth contain charged particles—protons, electrons, and heavy ions—trapped in the Earth’s magnetic field. They’re typically found is very high orbits such as the geosynchronous orbits (GEO) that are approximately 36,000 km above the planet. The inner Van Allen belt consists largely of highly energetic protons, with energy exceeding 30,000,000 electron-volts. Protons trapped in the magnetic field also exist in high concentrations in low Earth orbit (LEO), which is defined as 1400 to 2000 km from the Earth’s surface.