Space environments and effects analysis for ESA missions

Abstract

The evaluation of the environments of space missions is an area of increasing importance in the spacecraft design and operation phase. The need to assess accurately the effects of high-energy radiation, plasma and micro-particles on space missions has fostered the development and use of new generation tools to cope with the increasingly demanding requirements from more challenging space missions, use of commercial devices and advanced scientific detectors. We present applications at ESA of new tools for the support of space missions including particle transport in planetary magnetic fields, applied to the INTEGRAL mission, and shielding assessments in the context of the future BepiColombo and JWST missions. Developments of other new tools or techniques, such as microscopic NIEL degradation prediction tools, will be outlined. The need of a common framework for the development of future analysis tools (Geant4-based and not) is presented.