ELaNa 19 / Venture Class CubeSats - Shields-1

The NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC) Shields-1 CubeSat will demonstrate a research payload with materials durability experiments on emerging radiation shielding technologies. Shields-1 incorporates eight mdosimeters for radiation shielding experiments: one in the atomic number (Z)-grade radiation shielding vault, three behind experimental Z-grade radiation shielding samples developed at NASA LaRC, three behind baseline aluminum shielding samples, and one deep inside the research payload. The Z-grade is defined as an atomic number gradient of shielding materials using a low atomic number metal, such as aluminum, with a high atomic number material, like tantalum. The metals are fabricated into the vault structure. Also, Shields-1 measures a charge dissipation film resistance for technology development. The Shields-1 mission contributes to the SmallSat community with the development of technologies to increase the lifetimes of CubeSat missions from months to years in multiple radiation environments and increase the return on investment for scientific and commercial spacecraft.