Duration: 16 months
The space radiative environment is made up of very energetic particles capable of penetrating satellites and causing transient malfunctions as well as more or less long-term damage.In extreme mission conditions, Pb remains the reference material for hardening satellites designed by the Thales Alenia Space group or ESA with JUICE program. However, it can no longer be used beyond 2027 (European REACH regulation). Apart from lead, the alternative materials best suited to meet these constraints have until now been metallic (tantalum-lead - Silver (heavy, difficult to use) or more classically aluminum (however less efficient than Pb) This planned obsolescence as well as the need to bring more competitiveness to the architecture of our products through a mass-performance gain, today justifies major satellite manufacturer’s desire to support the development of alternative solution(s) allowing technical, economically viable and rapid migration.Geopolymers are inorganic materials, easily sourced, from which obtaining the necessary by-products generates very little CO2 emissions. In addition, they are very resistant to extreme thermal and radiative exposure. A bibliographic analysis carried out by Riderplast showed that the shielding characteristics of geopolymers can not only be superior to those conferred by Pb but also be optimized by the addition of dedicated chemical compounds. Additionally, compared to an alternative shielding solution, a much lower geopolymer density will allow a significant increase in onboard thicknesses to potentially optimize shielding characteristics. Also note that geopolymers are easily reduced to powder which is dispersible at high concentration in a polymer matrix.This final product might look like this:- Geopolymer composite coating with polymer matrix, Layers deposited directly during manufacturing or 3D-printed parts.
