TRAD entreprise
is an important actor to realize the JUICE mission.
15 years of preparation and 12 years of mission
(better to have a good health !).
Created in
1994 in Labège (France), TRAD Tests & Radiations is
an independent company providing a high level of
expertise and services for testing, calculation and
analysis. Its core business is the testing and
analysis of radiation effects on materials,
components and electronic systems.
The FASTRAD
software, developed and
marketed by TRAD for almost 20 years, has been
chosen as the official tool dedicated to the
evaluation of constraints related to space radiation
for scientific instruments on board the JUICE
mission. Being able to accurately calculate the
cumulative radiation stress of the onboard
instruments, called dose, is a key aspect of the
mission. This dose, induced by the highly energetic
electrons and protons coming from Jupiter's
radiative environment, can lead to a drift of the
electrical parameters or even to a partial or
complete loss of the instrument's operation if it is
not properly protected. The level of dose received
thus determines the life span of the onboard
electronic components during the 8 years of travel
to the Jovian moons and the 4 years of mission
around them.
The teams in
charge of the FASTRAD software had to meet
many challenges to meet the requirements of an
exploration mission around the largest planet in our
solar system. Indeed, it was necessary to adapt the
analysis tools by introducing new developments in
the software, all this in direct collaboration with
the experts in charge of the scientific equipment.
The improvement of the functionalities of the Monte
Carlo module of the software has allowed the
instrumentalists to analyze with precision the dose
levels received within their equipment by means of
maps. Thanks to this work initiated several years
ago, the engineers were able to optimize the
shielding and configuration of their instruments to
withstand one of the most extreme radiative
environments in our solar system.
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