It is an enigma that has been hovering for decades on the space industry: why so many satellites in orbit around the earth suffer from technical failures? Scientists from the Los Alamos National Laboratory, in the United States, have surely have just lifted the veil on this phenomenon by suggesting that it could finally be possible to predict and limit these incidents.
The new study relayed by the site The Debrief shows that the number of “Denchas in the spatial equipment of machines” (Sed, for Spacecraft Environment Discharge), these Mini-Circuits Circuits which can destroy the on-board electronics, is closely correlated with the number of electrons in the immediate environment of the vessel. As a reminder, in 1994, a solar storm had put two Canadian television satellites in just a few hours, proving the extreme vulnerability of spacecraft equipment for space.
“We knew that SEDs existed”explains Amitabh Nag, principal author of the study. But the link between the electron level and these breakdowns remained vague: “To understand it, we took two sensors on board the same satellite: one to quantify electronic activity, the other to analyze radio signals”he explains.
Can we prevent it?
The scenario is simple: the satellites accumulate electrons during their orbital passage, until this charge is brutally released in the form of an electric discharge, comparable to a spark, but whose consequences can be disastrous. To validate this hypothesis, the researchers used the sensors of the STP-SAT6 of the American Defense Department, allowing to follow both electrons and radio emissions.
The result is final.“Sed peaks are correlated with peaks in electronic activity”,, confirms Astabh Nag. The analyzes carried out over twelve months show hundreds of cases where a strong activity of electrons precedes 75% of SEDs, with a short period of thirty to forty-five minutes. In other words, the threat materializes just before the breakdown, opening the possibility of an on -board forecast system.
With these results, LOS Alamos researchers already imagine space missions with continuous monitoring of electrons to anticipate, even avoid these sudden electronic failures.
This discovery of researchers from LOS Alamos is a decisive advance for the reliability of the satellites of tomorrow which could mark the end of a black series for the satellite industry, opening the way to better resilience in the face of unpredictable thunderstorms of space.
