Spacecraft Environment Interactions: Solar Activity and Effects on Spacecraft

The natural space environment is characterized by many complex and subtle phenomena hostile to spacecraft. The effects of these phenomena impact spacecraft design, development, and operations. Space systems become increasingly susceptible to the space environment as use of composite materials and smaller, faster electronics increases. This trend makes an understanding of the natural space environment essential to accomplish overall mission objectives, especially in the current climate of better/cheaper/faster. This primer provides an overview of solar activity and interaction with the space environment. Under certain conditions, these interactions result in significant effects on the performance of a spacecraft. This publication describes some of these effects and presents key solar activity elements responsible for them. This primer is one in a series of NASA Reference Publications currently being developed by the Electromagnetics and Aerospace Environments Branch, Systems Analysis and Integration Laboratory, Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)