Bubble Technology Industries Inc.

Published purpose

Radiation prediction, monitoring, and protection technologies are a key part of all space missions. The construction of radiation detectors for long-duration exploration missions presents particular challenges because of stringent size, weight and power requirements. The proposed work aims to assess silicon photomultipliers as an enabling technology for miniaturized radiation spectrometers. These silicon devices have the potential to replace traditional, bulky photomultiplier tubes, significantly reducing the size and power consumption of radiation-detection instrumentation with little or no loss of performance when compared to traditional photomultiplier tubes. Potential applications of this technology include exploration missions to the Moon and Mars, stratospheric balloon flights, and small satellite missions, as well as use in terrestrial fields such as homeland security, law enforcement and health physics.