Radiation effects & COTS screening

Also known as TID, SEU, SEL, SAA

Total ionizing dose (TID), single-event upsets (SEU) and destructive latch-up (SEL) in the South Atlantic Anomaly for 500–600 km COTS avionics.

Document: SQ-EN-005
Updated: 21 Oct 2026
Reading time: 1 min

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Total ionizing dose vs single-event effects in LEO#

At $500 - 550 km$ Sun-synchronous orbits, a PocketQube has relatively thin shielding—often $1 mm$ of aluminium or $1.6 mm$ of FR-4—yet its short orbital lifetime ( $1.5 - 3 years$ ) keeps cumulative Total Ionizing Dose () around $1 - 4 krad(Si)$ [1]. Most modern commercial off-the-shelf () CMOS microcontrollers, transceivers and LDOs survive $5 - 20 krad(Si)$ without parametric failure[2].

The primary radiation hazard in is instead Single-Event Effects () triggered by high-energy protons ( $> 30 MeV$ ) trapped in the South Atlantic Anomaly (SAA) and galactic cosmic rays near the poles[3]:

Single-Event Upset (): Non-destructive bit flip in SRAM, processor registers or flash configuration cells.
Single-Event Latch-up (): Parasitic thyristor triggering in bulk CMOS that creates a low-impedance short between supply and ground, destroying the IC thermally unless power is cut within milliseconds.

References

[1]European Cooperation for Space Standardization. (2020). ECSS-E-ST-10-04C Rev.1: Space engineering — Space environment. ESA Requirements and Standards Section.ecss.nl(accessed 20 October 2026)
[2]nadir lab. (2026). PocketQube picosatellites: A review of standards, mission trends and miniaturization constraints, with lessons learned from Grizu-263A, Türkiye’s first PocketQube [Preprint]. nadir lab.Read on nadir lab.
[3]NASA Small Spacecraft Systems Virtual Institute. (2026). Small Spacecraft Avionics. State-of-the-Art of Small Spacecraft Technology (2026 edition), Chapter 8. NASA Ames Research Center.nasa.gov(accessed 20 October 2026)

Cite this SatWiki entry

@misc{nadirlab2026radiation,
  author       = {{nadir lab.}},
  title        = {{Radiation effects \& COTS screening}},
  year         = {2026},
  month        = oct,
  howpublished = {nadir lab. SatWiki SQ-EN-005 (Rev. 1)},
  url          = {https://nadirlab.space/en/wiki/radiation-effects/}
}

nadir lab. (2026). Radiation effects & COTS screening. nadir lab. SatWiki (SQ-EN-005, Rev. 1). https://nadirlab.space/en/wiki/radiation-effects/

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TI  - Radiation effects & COTS screening
T2  - nadir lab. SatWiki
PY  - 2026
ET  - Rev. 1
C1  - SQ-EN-005
UR  - https://nadirlab.space/en/wiki/radiation-effects/
ER  -