Vulnerability assessment of a space based weapon platform electronics system exposed to a thermonuclear weapon detonation
- North Carolina Univ., Chapel Hill, NC (United States)
- Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (United States)
The utilization of reconnaissance/surveillance satellite and weapon platform assets in space will subject the sensitive electronic equipment to a variety of natural and man-made radiation environments. These include Van Allen Belt protons and electrons; galactic and solar flare protons; neutrons, gamma rays, and X-rays from fission and fusion weapons; and directed neutral particle beams and lasers. Electronic equipment, including modem integrated circuits, may undergo permanent or transient changes of the electrical properties of the active components when exposed to these sources of radiation. This report summarizes the results of the Monte Carlo Adjoint Shielding code system -- MASH v1.0 calculations designed to estimate the dose to the critical electronics components of an idealized spaced based weapon platform from neutron and gamma-ray radiation emanating from a thermonuclear weapon detonation. The MASH calculations modeled several source/platform geometry configurations, obtaining results for multiple distances and weapon detonation positions relative to the platform. For certain source/platform orientations, the results indicate vulnerabilities to the C{sup 3} bay critical components box to radiation damage from a nuclear weapon detonation. Neutron protection factors ranged from 0.7 to 3.4 for the three platform configurations analyzed, and gamma-ray protection factors ranged from approximately 1.5 to 9.8. The results further indicate the source has a direct line-of-sight to the critical components box for certain source/platform orientations, regardless of the number of interceptors present. The merits of utilizing the MASH code system for estimating dose and shielding factors for spaced based assets has been demonstrated. The geometry configuration studied here is greatly simplified compared to those that will be encountered in an actual design.
- Research Organization:
- Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- Defense Nuclear Agency, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC05-84OR21400
- OSTI ID:
- 10159218
- Report Number(s):
- ORNL/TM-12487; ON: DE94013415
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: PBD: May 1994
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS//MATHEMATICS, COMPUTING, AND INFORMATION SCIENCE
SATELLITES
VULNERABILITY
BLAST EFFECTS
COMPUTER CALCULATIONS
THERMONUCLEAR EXPLOSIONS
ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT
M CODES
MONTE CARLO METHOD
MILITARY STRATEGY
450200
990200
NUCLEAR EXPLOSIONS AND EXPLOSIVES
MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTERS