Class
Article
College
College of Science
Department
Physics Department
Faculty Mentor
JR Dennison
Presentation Type
Poster Presentation
Abstract
The harsh space environment can cause detrimental effects on high-density electronics such as micro-SD memory cards. High-energy electrons and ionizing radiation can induce common critical failure modes for satellites, particularly for small satellites with low shielding that often use less radiation-hardened Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS) components. The objective of this research is to observe the impact of radiation on three different types of micro-SD cards in simulated Low Earth Orbit (LEO) space conditions. Radiation survivability was tested in the Space Survivability Test (SST) chamber at Utah State University that uses a ~90 mCi Sr90 source emitting broadband 0.2 to 2.5 MeV penetrating β radiation. Tests were conducted on about a dozen of micro-SD cards at a dose rate of ~2.5 Gy/hr for a period of up to ~400 hr for a cumulative Total Ionizing Dose (TID) of ~1000 Gy or ~50 times a typical annual dose (~20 Gy/yr) received for a typical CubeSat in LEO. The memory capacities of the micro-SD cards ranged from 4 GB to 32 GB with, low- and high-grade commercial multi-level cell (MLC) flash memory and industrial grade single-level cell (SLC) flash memory. Preliminary radiation tests at this facility reported memory failures occurrence at < 340 Gy for the low-grade SD cards. Pre-radiation tests were performed on all micro-SD cards that included- (1) formatting with a FAT32 file system by SD Memory Card Formatter 5.0.1, (2) performing Quick Size Test (to check and report the true capacity of SD cards) and Empty Space Test (to write test files to any remaining free space on the SD cards) using FakeFlash Test 1.1.1, and (3) measuring Sequential and Random Read/Write speeds with Crystal Disk Mark software. At the end of full TID exposure, recovery tests were also performed on the damaged SD cards to check if the recovery was possible. Presentation Time: Thursday, 9-10 a.m.
Location
Logan, UT
Start Date
4-12-2021 12:00 AM
Included in
Radiation Survivability of Micro-SD Cards in a Simulated Exposure to Prolonged Low Earth Orbit Space Environments
Logan, UT
The harsh space environment can cause detrimental effects on high-density electronics such as micro-SD memory cards. High-energy electrons and ionizing radiation can induce common critical failure modes for satellites, particularly for small satellites with low shielding that often use less radiation-hardened Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS) components. The objective of this research is to observe the impact of radiation on three different types of micro-SD cards in simulated Low Earth Orbit (LEO) space conditions. Radiation survivability was tested in the Space Survivability Test (SST) chamber at Utah State University that uses a ~90 mCi Sr90 source emitting broadband 0.2 to 2.5 MeV penetrating β radiation. Tests were conducted on about a dozen of micro-SD cards at a dose rate of ~2.5 Gy/hr for a period of up to ~400 hr for a cumulative Total Ionizing Dose (TID) of ~1000 Gy or ~50 times a typical annual dose (~20 Gy/yr) received for a typical CubeSat in LEO. The memory capacities of the micro-SD cards ranged from 4 GB to 32 GB with, low- and high-grade commercial multi-level cell (MLC) flash memory and industrial grade single-level cell (SLC) flash memory. Preliminary radiation tests at this facility reported memory failures occurrence at < 340 Gy for the low-grade SD cards. Pre-radiation tests were performed on all micro-SD cards that included- (1) formatting with a FAT32 file system by SD Memory Card Formatter 5.0.1, (2) performing Quick Size Test (to check and report the true capacity of SD cards) and Empty Space Test (to write test files to any remaining free space on the SD cards) using FakeFlash Test 1.1.1, and (3) measuring Sequential and Random Read/Write speeds with Crystal Disk Mark software. At the end of full TID exposure, recovery tests were also performed on the damaged SD cards to check if the recovery was possible. Presentation Time: Thursday, 9-10 a.m.