NASA Selects SET for ISS Radiation Work
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA. The NASA SBIR Program Office announced today that it selected Space Environment Technologies (SET) for a Phase IIE task to make real-time radiation measurements with the ARMAS FM9 instrument on the International Space Station.
The Automated Radiation Measurements for Aerospace Safety – Dual Monitor (ARMAS DM) Phase IIE project technical objective is to measure the above-the-atmosphere domain and complement an in-atmosphere balloon flight with a UAV flight using SET’s ARGOS vehicle. A key task is to automatically insert the data streams into SQL databases for retrieval by RADIAN assimilation routines and make them available for delivery to end users. The top-of-the-atmosphere measurements inform us of the primary radiation field for precipitating particles prior to their absorption within the atmosphere where they create a secondary radiation field.
The ARMAS DM Phase IIE project addresses these innovations:
• will make the first global demonstration of a real-time COTS-based technology for monitoring ionizing radiation using the combination of a long-duration balloon, a stratospheric UAV, an orbital satellite, and an ISS experiment to capture dose throughout a full 3D column from space to the ground;
• accumulation of the data streams in SQL databases for rapid access;
• demonstration of an operational pathway for 24/7/365 monitoring of the aerospace radiation environment; and
• provide scientific access to ionizing-radiation archives for enabling a better understanding of the dynamic and variable radiation environment due to all sources by measuring total ionizing dose, LET spectra, particles, and gamma-rays.
This project will help NASA solve important space-related problems, radically improve existing capabilities, and deliver new space capabilities. It will provide the baseline for radiation exposure to humans from the surface to Low Earth Orbit. Beneficiaries will include air/space traffic management who require future predictive capabilities only possible with physics-based, data assimilative systems. NASA can use our capabilities to manage radiation hazards for travel through the troposphere and stratosphere to LEO space.