New radiation environment and effects models in the European Space Agency's Space Environment Information System (SPENVIS)

Abstract

The European Space Agency (ESA) Space Environment Information System (SPENVIS) provides standardized access to models of the hazardous space environment through a user‐friendly Web interface, available at http://www.spenvis.oma.be/. SPENVIS is designed to help spacecraft engineers perform rapid analyses of environmental problems and, with extensive documentation and tutorial information, allows engineers with relatively little familiarity with the models to produce reliable results. SPENVIS is based on internationally recognized standard models and methods in many domains. It uses an ESA‐developed orbit generator to produce orbital point files necessary for many different types of problem. It has various reporting and graphical utilities and extensive help facilities. SPENVIS also contains an active, integrated version of the European Cooperation for Space Standardization Space Environment Standard, and access to in‐flight data. Apart from radiation and plasma environments, SPENVIS includes meteoroid and debris models, atmospheric models (including atomic oxygen), and magnetic field models. Recently, the radiation sources and effects module have been rewritten, providing enhanced mission analysis features, new radiation effects models, and streamlined navigation between various model pages.