Thesis (M.Sc.) - Cairo University - Faculty of Science - Department of Astronomy and Meteorology

Recently, the development of small satellites has become a trend. The harsh radiation space environment, in which small satellites operate, provides a challenge for all satellite systems which their system generally use commercial off-the shelf (COTS) components that are built for the ground operations, and they are not specifically designed for space uses . Therefore, this thesis aims to study the space environment and its effect on small satellites and on the components used in their manufacture according to the effect of for a polar orbit (sun synchronous, 98.5{u00B0} inclination) at an altitude of 800 km This study has been presented and discussed the basic sources of the space environment, a general classification of the different space environments, and a brief explanation of some components of small satellites in the first chapter Chapter two is concerned studying the radiation space environment and its components which include the Van Allen belts particles, solar particles and galactic cosmic rays Chapter three, studied and discussed the interaction of the charged particles with materials onboard spacecraft. The main mechanisms that cause degradation are outlined focusing on the long term effects. Included in, both the total ionizing dose, and the displacement damage effect and short term effect represented as single event effect In Chapter Four, models applied for some devices under test during the maximum and minimum solar activity to calculate TID on the components of the satellite with changing the shielding thickness made of Al 6061 Chapter five shows that the difference in radiation levels during the maximum and minimum solar activity is small

Issued also as CD