SBIR Phase I: Design and Development of a Dynamic Spacecraft Charging Test Chamber and Combined Spacecraft Charging Effects Simulation Environment

The broader impact of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will offer the space industry a timely and cost-effective means for accurately quantifying and evaluating the effects of space radiation on their materials and products. Companies will have the capability to understand the performance of their materials and products in dynamic, realistic space radiation environments, which will lead to advances in materials, longer lifespans, and fewer accidents/failures. The capability to study subsystem response in a realistic simulated environment and inform complex models will enable faster optimization and design iterations at lower costs. The proposed project will develop a simulation tool coupling the drastic timescale differences of surface and internal charging in a user-friendly interface, and pairing this tool with a dynamic space radiation testing chamber. A simulation tool with these capabilities addresses the usability gap in the state of practice and enables the solution of the complete spacecraft charging problem in a single simulation. The ability to produce broad spectrum energies and alter these sources in-situ allows for materials and objects to be exposed to realistic environmental changes without the approximations and extrapolations currently required due to the limitations in capability, scheduling, and size at appropriate facilities. The proposed system will offer a new capability for testing and modeling of subsystems such as human radiation protection devices, satellite materials and components, solar panels, and others; this will enable design advances that are faster, more accurate, and more effective than those currently available. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.