Thermal and mechanical performances have always been important for the design of spacecraft.  To that end, almost no spacecraft is designed without finite element analysis of these two properties.  It is generally after the spacecraft is built and the electronics or optics is being inserted that someone asks, “Do we need radiation shielding for these devices?”

That question should have been asked at the beginning of the design process.  If it had been then chances are the resultant mass would be much less and the dose at the critical site would be an near as possible to the limitations of the devices.

So we urge the use of detailed modeling of the spacecraft as a guide for the design, much as is done for the mechanical and thermal properties.

See the following two papers we have given for what we mean:

1 2003 MAPLD

2 2004 MAPLD

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