Techniques for Radiation Hardening of EKV through Incorporaton of Shielding in Component Structures Fabricated from Be/Be Alloy Substitute Materials

Beryllium has been the material of choice for many Exoatmospheric Kill Vehicle (EKV) components due to its desirable physical characteristics despite its health hazard concerns and high cost. However, beryllium has poor radiation shielding properties against x-ray, gamma ray and space radiation. Parasitic radiation shielding materials must be used in conjunction with beryllium where radiation shielding is required. The use of radiation shielding materials adds manufacturing cost and mass to the EKV. Innovative materials and designs are required that can reduce EKV component cost and mass, while incorporating radiation shielding directly into the EKV component. This project proposes to design, fabricate, test and qualify radiation hardened composite EKV components to replace beryllium/radiation shielding material combinations used in current EKV components. The use of radiation hardened composite materials will allow for the design of lower cost, lighter weight EKV components, that can provide the same structural strength and stiffness as beryllium components while incorporating equivalent radiation shielding directly into the EKV component. Significant cost and weight savings were demonstrated during Phase I by replacing the current gold plated beryllium EKV sensor sunshade design with a radiation hardened composite sunshade design.