Space Environments Science and Engineering

This research focus area involves knowledge of composition, elements, behaviors and impact of the space environments on the design, development, testing and operation of systems and components for aerospace vehicles and satellites. Moreover this focus area involves an understanding of space environments such as ionizing radiation, plasma, meteoroids, orbital debris, solar and thermal environments. Researchers in this field perform analyses to define the environments, quantify their effect on spacecraft design, development and operations and perform trade-off studies to optimize performance and assess risk.