nuclear-news

Radiation harms space technology, as well as people

Pioneering planet hunter suffers radiation overdose, New Scientist, 20 November 2012 by Lisa Grossman The first space telescope to hunt for transiting exoplanets may be on its deathbed.

On 2 November, the COROT satellite, which launched in 2006, lost the use of its only remaining onboard computer. The spacecraft can no longer receive data from its 30-centimetre telescope, which searches for the telltale dimming of stars as planets cross in front of them.

The culprit was too much radiation, says project scientist Malcolm Fridlund of the European Space Agency. The orbiting spacecraft had spent a long time in a harsh particle environment called the South Atlantic Anomaly.

Earth’s magnetic field is especially weak at this region about 200 to 800 kilometres above the surface, leading to high levels of damaging radiation. Because of its passages through the anomaly, COROT had survived more than twice the amount of radiation it was designed to
withstand….. http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn22517-pioneering-planet-hunter-suffers-radiation-overdose.html

November 21, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | 2 WORLD, technology