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Shields-1 Dosimetry Measurements in Polar Low Earth Orbit
Speaker: D. Laurence Thomsen, NASA Langley Research Center
Wednesday, September 14, 2022
10:00AM-11:00AM Pacific Daylight Time
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Abstract: Shields-1, NORAD ID 43850, has been operating in polar low-Earth orbit since December 2018 at 85 degrees inclination and an initial altitude of 500 km beginning in solar minimum activity. It launched with the NASA CubeSat Launch Initiative (CSLI) ELaNa XIX mission. Shields-1 has 8 Teledyne µdosimeters on board behind different shielding thicknesses. It is a technology demonstration of an atomic number (Z)-grade shielded electronics enclosure, 3 Z-grade shielding samples baselined with 4 aluminum samples having µdosimeters behind each sample and inside the electronics enclosure. In addition to the technology demonstration, Shields-1 has been providing scientific dosimetry of energetic particles in the polar low-Earth orbit space radiation environment.
Bio: Dr. Larry Thomsen serves as an Assistant Branch Head at the Advanced Materials and Processing Branch at NASA Langley Research Center since April 2021. He completed his PhD at the University of Connecticut in 1999. Dr. Thomsen has been a Research Materials Engineer at NASA Langley Research Center since 2000, after a National Academy of Sciences NRC Postdoctoral fellowship at the Naval Research Laboratory, Washington DC from 1999-2000. From 2000-2006, he has focused his research on sensors and actuators authoring 3 patents. From 2007 to the present, he has worked in the radiation shielding space technology area and has innovated methods of making atomic number (Z) shielding, which has generated 6 patents, 3 commercial licenses, and a 2018 NASA Government Invention of the Year Honorable Mention. He is also the project lead of Shields-1, which is a CubeSat technology demonstration of Z-grade radiation shielding developed at NASA LaRC, which has been operating in polar low-Earth orbit, since December 2018. This flight experiment has increased the development level of the LaRC Z-grade radiation shielding with space heritage for increasing the operational lifetimes of small satellites. In 2022, LaRC Z-shielding has been incorporated into the NASA GTOSAT structure, which is scheduled for a geotransfer orbital mission.
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