Radiation impacts on star-tracker performance and vision systems in space

CCD-chips are widely used in spacecraft applications, due to their inherent high resolution, linearity, sensitivity and low size and power-consumption , and irrespective of their rather poor handling of ionizing radiation. One of the experiments onboard the Teamsat satellite, the payload of the proto type Ariane 502, was the Autonomous Vision System (AVS), a fully autonomous star-tracker with several advanced vision features. The main objective of the AVS was to study the autonomous operations during severe radiation flux and after appreciable total dose. The AVS experiment and the radiation exp erienced onboard Teamsat are described. Examples of various radiation impac ts on the AVS instrument are given, and compared to ground based radiation tests. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.