Description
The Radiation Source represents a point source of radiation that can be attached to any object in the simulation. The source emits radiation with a configurable flux that follows inverse-square law falloff from a reference distance. Multiple radiation sources can contribute to the total flux received by radiation-sensitive components.
Example Use Cases
- Solar Radiation: Model the Sun as a radiation source for solar panel power calculations and thermal analysis.
- Nuclear Sources: Simulate radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs) or other onboard nuclear sources.
- Radiation Environment Analysis: Evaluate radiation exposure from multiple sources at different orbital positions.
Module Implementation
The radiation source emits flux that decreases with distance according to the inverse-square law.
Inverse-Square Law
The flux at any distance from the source is calculated as:
where is the flux at the reference distance , and is the distance from the source.
Default Configuration
By default, the source is configured to represent solar radiation at Earth’s orbital distance:
- Reference flux: Solar constant at 1 AU (~1361 W/m²)
- Reference distance: 1 AU (~149.6 million km)
Particle Energy
The source includes a configurable particle energy parameter used for Single Event Effect (SEE) probability calculations in radiation-sensitive electronics.
Assumptions/Limitations
- The source is modeled as an isotropic point emitter; directional emission patterns are not supported.
- Line-of-sight occlusion by other objects is not automatically calculated by the source itself.