Radiation Hardening Manufacturing Technology

BMDS components must function reliably when exposed to radiation, including both nuclear weapon and natural space environments. Current tools will not allow correct evaluations of system performance. Since the current radiation environment tools were not designed to handle sub-orbital trajectories, environments have been calculated by interpolating from a number of satellite orbital trajectories. A fully integrated approach, utilizing complete ballistic solutions, is needed. In Phase I, ASI, teamed with Gray Research, will interface space environments codes with orbital and sub-orbital trajectory models in the Trajectory Interface for the Radiation Environments (TIRE). TIRE will produce an accurate trajectory, calculate the geomagnetic field transmission function and apply it to space radiation environment models. This approach will accurately model radiation exposure along sub-orbital as well as orbital trajectories, significantly improving estimates of the radiation environment to which interceptors are exposed , removing the need for multiple iterations, and reducing the computational time for any arbitrary trajectory. In Phase II, we will examine the integration of TIRE with nuclear weapon environments, advanced neutral and ion transport codes, and single event effect models to further enhance radiation hardening performance predictions of BMDS interceptors for a full evaluation of the radiation"s impact on a system.