High-Energy Accelerators for Radiation Testing and Shielding

Project Information

HEARTS

Grant agreement ID: 101082402

DOI

10.3030/101082402

EC signature date 10 October 2022

Start date 1 January 2023

End date 31 December 2026

Funded under

• Digital, Industry and Space

Total cost

€ 3 599 965,00

EU contribution

€ 3 599 965,00

Coordinated by

ORGANISATION EUROPEENNE POUR LA RECHERCHE NUCLEAIRE
Switzerland

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - HEARTS (High-Energy Accelerators for Radiation Testing and Shielding)

Reporting period: 2023-01-01 to 2024-06-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Cosmic radiation, from which the Earth is largely protected thanks to its atmosphere and magnetic field, poses a significant risk to space missions, in relation to its impact both on human beings and electronic devices and systems. Therefore, being able to reproduce such radiation conditions at ground level is essential for the design and qualification of shielding solutions and electronics devices for use in space, as well as to assess the radiobiological impact of cosmic radiation.
HEARTS’ main objective can be summarized as that of substantially improving Europe’s capacity to perform accelerator-based experiments that mimic the radiation conditions and effects present in space, in relation to highly energetic ions. Such an objective is being achieved thanks to technical and procedural advancements at GSI and CERN, the two European labs capable of producing heavy ion beams up to energies above 100 Mega-electron Volts per nucleon.
As an outcome of HEARTS, access to high-energy heavy ion beams for space shielding, radiobiology and electronics testing is expected to improve significantly compared to the situation today. This will have a positive impact on the overall space capability of Europe, and in turn will benefit the European society as a whole by contributing to advancements in areas such as communication, navigation, weather forecasting, environmental monitoring, not to mention space-based research and exploration.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

In order to reach such objectives, important advancements in the capabilities of the two HEARTS heavy ion facilities have already been achieved. In the case of GSI, the main achievement has been that of successfully commissioning the Galactic Cosmic Ray simulator in April 2024, capable of reproducing a radiation field very similar to that in space. Whereas typical accelerator test conditions make use of mono-energetic and mono-ion species beams, the GCR simulator is capable of transforming a set of primary beam energies into an environment with multiple particle species, energies and ionization capabilities, much more closely resembling the actual environment in space. This achievement has been built on detailed Monte Carlo radiation-matter simulations, state-of-the-art manufacturing techniques, and sophisticated radiation field characterization solutions. The GCR simulator is expected to mainly be applied to radiobiology and shielding applications, which will largely benefit from the enhanced level of resemblance to the actual space environment.
At CERN, the focus has rather been on developing beams and associated quality control procedures for electronics irradiation. In this case, the direct resemblance to the space environment is not the main objective, but rather its worst-case condition, achieved typically through ions with very high ionization capabilities. In this regard, the main achievement has been the successful experimental campaign in October 2023, in which very high-energy lead beams were developed, characterized and validated in view of their compliance with the radiation effects testing needs. Such needs had been previously defined within HEARTS by the industrial and academic radiation effects experts among the project partners. In autumn 2024, the readiness of the facility for routine space electronics testing will be assessed by external users during a pilot user run.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

One of the next key steps in ensuring the success of the project will be that of demonstrating a sufficient level of maturity and readiness of both the GSI and CERN heavy ion testing facilities, in the first case for all three application fields (radiobiology, shielding and electronics) and, in the case of CERN, focusing on electronics. Such readiness level will be assessed by industrial and academic users, in the first instance from within the HEARTS project, but ultimately also external to it.
In the case of microelectronics testing, new guidelines and standards will need to be developed to ensure an adequate exploitation of the facilities. Currently, existing standards are tailored for lower ion energies, of easier access than high-energy facilities, but which are not capable of satisfying some of the emerging testing needs, notably in relation to the qualification of devices with very complex packages (e.g. involving 3D structures) as well in relation to enabling board level tests. Therefore, whereas high-energy heavy ion testing opens very attractive opportunities for electronics testing, its coherent and standardized application will require well established and accepted test guidelines to be developed, an effort for which HEARTS is expected to provide crucial input.