A Comparison of Trapped Particle Models in Low Earth Orbit

TL;DR

This paper compares different trapped particle radiation models (AE8/AP8 and AE9/AP9) for Low Earth Orbit, assessing their flux predictions and radiation region maps relevant for space mission planning.

Contribution

It provides a comparative analysis of AE8/AP8 and AE9/AP9 models for low Earth orbit radiation environments, including flux calculations and duty cycle estimations.

Findings

AE9/AP9 models predict different fluxes than AE8/AP8.

Radiation region maps vary between models.

Results are consistent with in-situ measurements.

Abstract

Space radiation is well-known to pose serious issues to solid-state high-energy sensors. Therefore, radiation models play a key role in the preventive assessment of the radiation damage, duty cycles, performance and lifetimes of detectors. In the context of HERMES-SP mission we present our investigation of AE8/AP8 and AE9/AP9 specifications of near-Earth trapped radiation environment. We consider different circular Low-Earth orbits. Trapped particles fluxes are obtained, from which maps of the radiation regions are computed, estimating duty cycles at different flux thresholds. Outcomes are also compared with published results on in-situ measurements.