CERN: Engineering updates

Enhancing safety: improving seismic risk assessments

anschaef — Tue, 30 Apr 2024 09:41:47 +0000

Enhancing safety: improving seismic risk assessments

CERN is located in a particularly complex geological setting, which also happens to be prone to earthquakes. Seismic events of a certain magnitude have the potential to inflict substantial damage or lead to equipment failure, which naturally poses a risk to both personnel and assets.

Complex research infrastructures like CERN often boast unique technologies and equipment hidden deep underground. This presents a unique set of challenges, since there are currently no regulations covering either the structural systems or the subterranean infrastructure, resulting in a lack of established procedures for conducting seismic risk assessments. Regarding radiation shielding in particular, the prevailing approach frequently involves using high-density blocks to achieve the required level of shielding, an exceptional solution that is not regulated by European or Swiss norms.

Examples of concrete block configurations at CERN: beam line shielding in the Neutrino Platform trenches (left) and Proton Synchrotron East Area facility (right). (Image: CERN)

To bridge this gap and identify feasible solutions, CERN’s HSE unit and SCE and BE departments have been carrying out dedicated research for the last three years, in collaboration with the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL), the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), the University of Montpellier and the European Centre for Training and Research in Earthquake Engineering (EUCENTRE). Together, they have performed full-scale seismic tests on a large shaking table at EUCENTRE to observe the dynamic behaviour of stacked concrete blocks. The numerical models were calibrated using the test data, enabling the simulation of the seismic behaviour of real block configurations at CERN. This research provides the basis for a novel methodology for the seismic risk assessment of this kind of structure, which is currently applied as a routine activity in areas such as the PS, SPS and LHC complex. Furthermore, the research has resulted in a clear procedure for calibrating the numerical models, as well as a methodology and risk assessment process that will be applied to future block configurations in new experiments and facilities to be built at CERN.

Shaking table tests were carried out at EUCENTRE in Pavia, Italy. The left image shows geometrical details, with dimensions in mm, of the specimen (middle image). The right image shows the tested accelerograms, which are compatible with the seismic design requirements for several ordinary buildings in Switzerland. (Image: CERN)

The collaboration was recently awarded the “Best Paper Award 2023” by the Engineering Structures journal for the paper entitled “Shaking table tests for seismic stability of stacked concrete blocks used for radiation shielding”. According to Marco Andreini, senior structural engineer in the HSE-OHS group, “this award recognises the significance and impact of our work, not only for CERN but also for other similar complex infrastructures around the world.”

Looking ahead, it is hoped that this novel approach can be used by other large research infrastructures and beyond.

anschaef Tue, 04/30/2024 - 11:41

Byline

HSE unit

SCE department

Publication Date

Thu, 05/02/2024 - 10:00

Introducing CERN’s robodog

ckrishna — Mon, 05 Feb 2024 16:19:27 +0000

Introducing CERN’s robodog

Building 937 houses the coolest robots at CERN. This is where the action happens to build and programme robots that can tackle the unconventional challenges presented by the Laboratory’s unique facilities. Recently, a new type of robodog has entered CERN’s robot pool and successfully completed its first radiation protection test in the North Area.

“There are large bundles of loose wires and pipes on the ground that slip and move, making them unpassable for wheeled robots and difficult even for humans. We carried out a proof-of-concept survey with the Radiation Protection group in this area. There were no issues at all: the robot was completely stable throughout the inspection,” said Chris McGreavy, a robotics engineer in CERN’s Controls, Electronics and Mechatronics (CEM) group.

Until today, CERN’s family tree of robots included the modular CERNbot in different sizes and configurations, such as the CERNbotSPS, as well as the Train Inspection Monorail (TIM) and CRANEbot. They can carry heavy payloads like robotic arms and other tools but are limited when it comes to entering cluttered areas and moving over unstructured surfaces and on steps.

The team is now developing tools and advanced control algorithms for the robodog and its successors for long-term deployment in the experiment caverns, such as that of the ALICE detector, which are complex environments with metal stairs and narrow corridors designed for humans or, well, robots with legs. The current robodog is a commercially available product which CERN plans to use to explore possibilities to develop its own robotic solution in the future. In collaboration with the Experimental Physics R&D department, the CEM group is developing more customised solutions based on four-legged robot that will soon be able to manoeuvre throughout almost the entire cavern. These robodogs will be able to monitor the state of the caverns and their environmental conditions regularly. They can identify water or fire leaks and other incidents, such as false alarms, in a timely manner, all of which can significantly impact the operation of the machines in the caverns and tunnels.

Each robot developed at CERN is carefully crafted to meet unique challenges and to complement each other. For example, there are rails attached to the ceiling running along the 27-kilometre tunnel of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). The TIM monorail robot uses these rails to move around the tunnel. While it is great for monitoring and interacting with the tunnels from above, CERN’s new small robodog can perform activities on the ground, especially under the beamline, where no robot could tread before so easily. It is envisaged to be integrated with the four monorail robots currently in operation in the LHC.

“The TIMs are used for monitoring the large distances of the LHC from above and can travel long distances without recharging. They can deploy the quadbots in local areas to get more information about specific places that the TIM cannot easily access,” explains McGreavy.

The robodog will be able to enter new dimensions of the caverns, unlike the previous wheeled, tracked or monorail robots – expanding the range of environments that CERN robots can navigate. The Beams department continues to dream up robots for CERN and engineer them into reality.

ckrishna Mon, 02/05/2024 - 17:19

Byline

Chetna Krishna

Publication Date

Tue, 02/06/2024 - 09:00

Philippe Bernard (1935 – 2023)

katebrad — Tue, 05 Dec 2023 10:15:05 +0000

Philippe Bernard (1935 – 2023)

Born in 1935, Philippe Bernard completed his studies at the prestigious Ecole supérieure d’éléctricité in 1956. He began working at CERN in 1962 as engineer-in-charge of the Proton Synchrotron. He went on to design and develop radiofrequency (RF) separators, making substantial contributions to the improvement of these devices that provide well-selected secondary beams. This was particularly important in the early 1970s for experiments with the CERN 2m hydrogen chamber, the Saclay-built Mirabelle chamber at IHEP in Serpukhov, USSR, and the Big European Bubble Chamber (BEBC) at CERN.

Already with these separators, he realised the potential of superconductivity for RF structures, and so was entrusted by John Adams in 1978, together with Herbert Lengeler, to develop RF cavities for CERN accelerators. A vigorous programme, with international participation, led to the development of five-cell cavities, first made of pure niobium and, later, of niobium sputtered on the more stable copper-substrate to produce robust cavities. This allowed accelerating fields of up to 7 MV/m to be reached.

After tests of prototypes at Petra (DESY) and the Super Proton Synchrotron, 320 such cavities were produced for the Large Electron-Positron collider (LEP) using niobium-film technology. In the framework of the upgrade programme, which started in 1987, these cavities were gradually added to the complement of normal-conducting cavities, which were partially replaced. This enabled an increase in the electron and positron beam energy from 46 GeV in 1989 to 104 GeV by 2000. In addition to this successful development, in the late 1990s Philippe took a strong interest in the design and development of a system of coupled superconducting cavities as a sensitive detector of gravitational waves.

Philippe was also involved in numerous CERN-wide activities, including chairing the purchasing policy monitoring board and serving as president of the CERN Health Insurance Scheme (CHIS). He also served as president and vice-president of the CERN Pensioners Association during a critical period.

His open mind, his wide-ranging views and his solid technical knowledge made him a recognised leader. His critical and thoughtful attitude made him a respected discussion partner for the CERN Management. His commitment to the CERN Health Insurance Scheme and to long-term improvements in the social conditions of CERN and ESO staff was widely appreciated and acknowledged. We remember him as a generous, witty and vivacious friend.

His friends and colleagues

katebrad Tue, 12/05/2023 - 11:15

Publication Date

Tue, 12/05/2023 - 11:14

Carbon dioxide for the environment

anschaef — Fri, 22 Sep 2023 10:45:43 +0000

Carbon dioxide for the environment

Several years ago, CERN made it its mission to put the environment at the heart of its scientific research. This philosophy underpins various concrete measures to protect the climate and biodiversity that have been taken at all levels of the Laboratory. In the context of the Laboratory’s target to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 28% by the end of Run 3, the EN-CV and EP-DT groups, with the support of the whole Organization and its partners in science and industry, are preparing to renovate the cooling systems of the ATLAS and CMS detectors, which will help to drastically reduce direct emissions of these gases. The aim is to save the equivalent of 40 000 tonnes of CO₂ each year... by choosing a technology that’s actually based on CO₂ (commonly known as R744 in the field of refrigeration, air conditioning and heat pumps).

CERN uses considerable energy and resources to cool its scientific facilities. Alongside its cryogenic systems, which cool the LHC superconducting magnets to as close as possible to absolute zero, the Laboratory uses more conventional cooling systems to keep the detectors and its flagship collider at temperatures as low as -50°C. This invigorating temperature helps to protect the particle detection systems of ATLAS and CMS from ionising radiation during the operation of the machine. Until now, CERN’s cooling systems have not differed from those used in industry in that they are based on refrigerants with a very high global warming potential (GWP), namely perfluorocarbons.

In the context of today’s climate crisis, the use of CO₂, which has a GWP of 1, is an excellent alternative to the perfluorocarbons used in low-temperature applications, which have a GWP of several thousand, hence CERN’s decision in 2017 to invest heavily in the development of a CO₂-based cooling system. The EN et EP departments’ engineers have been working tirelessly ever since to push back the limits of the equipment and the standard cooling cycles, meticulously optimising every parameter in order to cool CO₂ to close to its -56.6°C limit for use.

The R744 primary “plug and play” system, predecessor of the large-scale cold production and distribution system developed by CERN and NTNU. (Image: CERN)

In addition to high costs, the path towards environmental sustainability was strewn with obstacles, as Pierre Hanf, an engineer from the EN-CV/PJ section confirms: “CO₂-based cooling systems operate at higher pressure than commercially available systems and are known for their greater complexity. Although the operating principle has been validated for small “plug and play” systems, the large-scale production and distribution of cold, taking account of the constraints associated with a cavern 100 metres below ground, had never been achieved in industry. That’s why we needed to develop our own solutions, drawing on the expertise of partner institutes. Our collaboration with the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), which is renowned throughout Europe for its expertise in refrigeration and its CO₂ applications, was of prime importance in this process.”

Six years after the project began, these efforts are bearing fruit: the concept has been validated, the development phase is over, and the industrial production of the new equipment is under way. Once deployed, the CO₂ will circulate in the primary cooling circuit, which is operated by the EN department upstream of the detectors, and in the secondary circuit, the domain of the EP department, at below -53°C. “Over and above environmental considerations, the choice of the new cooling system will equip the ATLAS and CMS detectors to cope with the increased ionising radiation associated with high luminosity”, explains Paolo Petagna, the project leader from the EP-DT section. “In this hostile environment, it’s crucial that we provide the collaborations with the lowest possible temperatures.”

There is still a long way to go before the new system is commissioned ready for the fourth accelerator run. CERN’s partners in industry are building more than thirty CO₂ pumps, which will be delivered over the next few years. According to Roberto Bozzi from the EN-CV/PJ section, “The development of these large-scale CO₂ cooling systems is a striking example of the transfer of CERN's own know-how to European industry. Partner companies will be able to reproduce this solution and disseminate it in cooling-intensive sectors such as the food and pharmaceutical industries, thereby contributing to the green transition of those industries.”

The list of potential beneficiaries also includes CERN detectors and installations other than ATLAS and CMS, which also have considerable cooling needs and might thus also switch to CO₂ in the longer term. That’s what the EP and EN teams working on the project are hoping, at any rate. They emphasise, above all, the collective nature of this long-term undertaking, which could not have succeeded without the invaluable collaboration of the groups responsible for the equipment and services within CERN’s AT (Accelerators and Technology) and RC (Research and Computing) sectors and the ATLAS and CMS collaborations’ technical and coordination teams. “With the CO₂ cooling system, the whole of CERN is making a concrete and constructive long-term contribution to the climate. It’s a recipe that requires many ingredients and we can’t wait to try the finished product”, Roberto Bozzi concludes.

anschaef Fri, 09/22/2023 - 12:45

Byline

Thomas Hortala

Publication Date

Thu, 10/12/2023 - 10:40

Balancing preservation with modernisation

anschaef — Mon, 09 Oct 2023 13:07:03 +0000

Balancing preservation with modernisation

CERN is 69 years old. By CERN, I mean more than 600 buildings, 54 km of roads and 64 km of underground tunnels. About 65% of CERN’s infrastructure was built before 1970, so the Site and Civil Engineering (SCE) department needs to balance preservation with modernisation. Here’s how we define our site consolidation priorities.

In the past, there would be campaigns to replace windows, then campaigns to replace doors, and so on. But, back in 2021, our approach changed, helped by an increase in budget. It enabled two to three renovations per year of complete buildings. Unfortunately, the recent budget constraints will reduce the amount of complete building renovations from 2028 onwards.

Prioritising which building to renovate relies on four Ss: safety, sustainability, strategy and Stratus.

Safety: our colleagues in the Occupational Health & Safety and Environmental Protection (HSE) unit work alongside SCE to report and address safety compliance issues.
Sustainability: a renovated building will gain 60–80% in energy efficiency, helping to minimise our impact on the environment.
Strategy: renovations must have strategic value for the scientific programme. As a particle physicist myself, I fully understand that scientific priorities come first, but we also have to ensure that the working conditions for the CERN community do not degrade.
Stratus: this professional software tool lets us assess the condition of important aspects of buildings. We use it to evaluate and categorise every building on site, calculating the investment required to bring a building up to the latest standards.

These four Ss feed into the recurrent site consolidation programme, established annually with a 10-year horizon. Recent renovations have included Restaurant 1, the newly reopened CERN Library and Building 180, home of magnet developments.

A major, ongoing renovation is that of Building 60, CERN’s main building, which was constructed in 1959. Its modernisation was necessary due to a high presence of asbestos. This work was originally planned for 2027, but the CERN Management decided to bring it forward. We are grateful for this brave decision, which entailed relocating all of the building’s offices to Building 42. The project should be completed by late summer 2025.

Renovations are complemented by newly constructed buildings and infrastructures, defined either by technical needs – such as the newly delivered HL-LHC buildings and the Prévessin Data Centre – or because a new construction is a better choice than renovating very old assets. Two such buildings, currently in the design phase – Building 777 in Prévessin and Building 140 in Meyrin – will aim for a net-zero carbon construction, in line with CERN’s sustainability ambitions. They bring opportunities to change space management, incorporating a minimum of 30% open-space areas. Once their construction is complete, old barracks and buildings that are uncomfortable, expensive to maintain and have poor energy efficiency will be demolished.

Additionally, with such a large site, urgent repairs and interventions are handled via ServiceNow. Anyone at CERN can send a request for a repair or minor modification, and so far in 2023 we have received no fewer than 9500 ServiceDesk tickets. Safety-related requests are dealt with quickly, while others are integrated into the yearly programme of repair campaigns on site, thus optimising the load of the teams.

Site consolidation is just one of the many aspects of SCE’s work. Another, in collaboration with FAP and many other departments at CERN, is the CERN Campus app, launched as a proof of concept this August. With about 3000 users to date, this app unites campus services and information including food, maps, phonebook, notifications and CERN news. You can find out more and download it here.

In everything we do in SCE, our aim is to transform CERN into a greener lab, protecting, preserving and modernising the infrastructure for the many exciting years ahead.

anschaef Mon, 10/09/2023 - 15:07

Byline

Mar Capeans

Publication Date

Mon, 10/09/2023 - 15:00

A new generation of iron-dominated electromagnets has been successfully tested at CERN

ndinmore — Mon, 11 Sep 2023 14:49:39 +0000

A new generation of iron-dominated electromagnets has been successfully tested at CERN

Many physics experiments at CERN require moderate magnetic fields (around 2 tesla) in a large gap over a large volume. These are currently created by normal-conducting, iron-dominated electromagnets. While robust and reliable, these resistive magnets require significant electrical power – in the MW range – and therefore can be costly to operate.

To combat this, engineers from the CERN TE-MSC group are investigating intermediate temperature superconductors (operating at 20 kelvin and above) to be used in the coil winding of electromagnets with the aim of increasing magnet efficiency. They have now designed, manufactured and successfully tested a conductor for use in these electromagnets. This proof-of-principle demonstrator is a superconducting coil wound from a magnesium diboride (MgB₂) cable mounted inside an iron yoke. As a first step, the demonstrator was tested at 4.5 K, where it reached the expected magnetic field. The group designed the demonstrator to be easily scalable to large, iron-dominated electromagnets, such as some of the magnets needed for the Search for Hidden Particles (SHiP) experiment. The innovative design could also be retrofitted to existing magnets by replacing the normal-conducting coils with the new coils.

The MgB₂ cable is one of the units manufactured for the Superconducting Link of the High-Luminosity Large Hadron Collider (HL-LHC) at CERN. The MgB₂ strands were developed by CERN together with ASG S.p.A during the R&D phase of the HL-LHC Cold Powering work package and were produced by ASG S.p.A. The MgB₂ cable was also developed by CERN and then industrialised for production in long lengths by Tratos Cavi S.p.A, a member of the ICAS consortium. The iron yoke and the winding formers were fabricated with the support of CERN EN-MME.

The demonstrator magnet in the horizontal position, during the last stages of assembly (left), as well as when attached to a vertical insert for testing in one of the CERN SM18 cryogenic test stations (right). (Image: CERN)

For the initial test, the engineers cooled the demonstrator down to 4.5 K with liquid helium and successfully ramped it up to 5 kA, the design current, without any resistive transition or resistive voltage across the coil. They then warmed it up to room temperature and cooled it again to 4.5 K: the magnet again reached the target current of 5 kA after this thermal cycle, with no quench. Magnetic measurements at cryogenic temperature confirmed that the demonstrator met design expectations, both in terms of field strength – the magnetic field in the pole gap is 1.95 T at 5 kA – and field quality.

The measured dipole magnetic field in the centre of the magnet compared to simulations. (Image: CERN)

“These encouraging results demonstrate the robustness of the MgB₂ cable and the suitability of its coil design for iron-dominated electromagnets,” explains TE-MSC group leader Arnaud Devred. “The team warmly thank Richard Jacobsson for inspiring this work, Davide Tommasini for his exploratory feasibility study and José Miguel Jimenez for his unconditional support for this project.”

The next step for the team is to work with the CERN TE-CRG group to carry out a test of the demonstrator in gaseous helium at 20 K. Ultimately, the coil will be inserted into a dedicated cryostat to enable its operation at 20 K while keeping the surrounding iron yoke at room temperature.

ndinmore Mon, 09/11/2023 - 16:49

Byline

TE department

Publication Date

Mon, 09/11/2023 - 16:27

3rd International Conference on Detector Stability and Aging Phenomena in Gaseous Detectors

anschaef — Wed, 21 Jun 2023 10:30:41 +0000

3rd International Conference on Detector Stability and Aging Phenomena in Gaseous Detectors

Gaseous detectors for particle physics are entering a phase where operation at current experiments and future facilities will require the capacity to work at unprecedent particle rate, higher rate capability, integrated charge and improved time resolution. In addition, new materials are in many cases needed to achieve these new requirements. Finally, the need to replace environmentally unfriendly gases has set an additional challenge to the community.

The third International Conference on Detector Stability and Aging Phenomena in Gaseous Detectors aims in offering an occasion for sharing new results, new ideas, new facility requirements...

The conference will be held at CERN in the main Auditorium from November 6th to 10th, 2023.

The conference will continue the initiative started in 1986 with the first workshop held at LBL (Berkeley) and in 2001 at DESY (Hamburg).

Conference topics will include:
Detector stability and performance
Aging phenomena
Radiation hardness
Material outgassing
Novel materials
Electrodes
Photocathodes
Plasma chemistry
Environmentally friendly gases
Gas and material analysis, characterisation, instruments
Discharge damage and mitigation
Test facilities
Front End Electronics for detector stability and aging mitigation

The conference will have invited reviews and selected contributions, as well as a poster session.

The conference proceeding will be published in peer-reviewed journal.

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More information on Indico: https://indico.cern.ch/event/1237829/

anschaef Wed, 06/21/2023 - 12:30

Publication Date

Wed, 06/21/2023 - 12:27

Louis Guerrero (1943 – 2023)

anschaef — Tue, 06 Jun 2023 09:12:26 +0000

Louis Guerrero (1943 – 2023)

Louis, known as “Loulou”, arrived at CERN in 1970. He began his engineering career at the PS Booster under the leadership of Helmut Reich and Gianni Gelato, then later moved to the SPS to join Raymond Rausch’s team, where he worked on the communication system for the SPS computers (TITN).

During the construction of LEP, he joined the Network Management (NM) section under Patrick Lienard, which was responsible for reconfiguring the token-ring control network. Continuing to work in the NM section during the construction of the LHC, he was put in charge of the selection and installation of the routers for the FDDI (fibre distributed data interface) communication network.

Following the restructuring under Robin Lauckner (LHC Controls Coordination), the NM section was moved to the IT division. Thanks to his in-depth knowledge of communication technologies, Louis was promoted to take over responsibility for the digital telephone network in the division.

Louis was an excellent colleague, proactive, reliable and devoted to the Organization. He was always ready and willing to invest energy and time in supporting interns and visitors. He was a good listener and everyone always turned to him for wise advice.

He loved to organise social gatherings, whether at CERN or at home, and unforgettable moments abounded. We followed his sporting endeavours with curiosity and interest: he was a committed and enthusiastic golf, tennis and volleyball player (he coached women’s volleyball teams in Geneva) and a keen amateur cyclist.

He faced his illness with his usual discretion, to avoid worrying his family and friends, and we always hoped that he would beat it.

Loulou, we’ll miss you.

His colleagues and friends

anschaef Tue, 06/06/2023 - 11:12

Publication Date

Tue, 06/06/2023 - 11:10

The Technical Galleries Consolidation Project is progressing well

anschaef — Tue, 25 Apr 2023 13:05:19 +0000

The Technical Galleries Consolidation Project is progressing well

The Technical Galleries Consolidation Project started in 2021 with the aim of renovating CERN’s technical galleries, which form a 14 km-long maze beneath the Meyrin and Prévessin sites, and to make the technical infrastructure more reliable and environmentally friendly while at the same time improving safety.

The 3D modelling campaign, which began in May 2021 as a prerequisite for the project, is already well underway: 5 km of galleries have already been scanned and half of them have been 3D-modelled. “The modelling phase represents an enormous amount of work which is completed with exemplary professionalism by the teams in charge”, says the project leader, Sébastien Evrard.

Currently, two pilot galleries are being consolidated: gallery 835 on the Meyrin site and gallery 818 on the Prévessin site. More than 125 tonnes of old piping and material have already been removed – 2.92 km of old piping have been dismantled and replaced by 1.57 km of new piping. Some 660 welds and 80 non-destructive tests so far have been performed. New circuits have been installed for heating, compressed air and drinking water, with the layout of the drinking water network in the West Area of the Meyrin site having been completely revised and optimised.

Several decabling campaigns have also taken place to dispose of many obsolete cables, about 48 km to date, including cables with incredibly large cross-sections (up to 11 cm!). Some civil engineering work has also been completed in the West Area of the Meyrin site (drain networks, equipment and personnel access, metallic structures).

The project was initially scheduled to take place over a period of 10 years; it will not take less time than that to renovate the 14 km of galleries which are so vital to the operation of the accelerator complex and CERN sites.

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For more information, read the article published in 2021 at the launch of the project.

anschaef Tue, 04/25/2023 - 15:05

Byline

Anaïs Schaeffer

Publication Date

Tue, 04/25/2023 - 15:02

From CERN to Jupiter: Juice embarks on its historic journey

anschaef — Thu, 13 Apr 2023 09:57:31 +0000

From CERN to Jupiter: Juice embarks on its historic journey

It is not only in the tunnels of CERN that we learn about the origin and composition of the Universe. Look up, and space offers the most beautiful phenomena to study: black holes, dark matter, cosmic rays, etc. Studying planets, their structure and their composition teach us a lot about the formation of our own planet and might one day lead us to find a habitat and possibly life. One of the intriguing features of the biggest planet in our solar system, Jupiter, is the sheer number of its moons, almost one hundred in total, three of which have large oceans under a huge ice crust. Today, the European Space Agency (ESA) is launching the Juice – Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer – mission to explore the gas giant and its icy moons.

Before setting off to meet the king of the gods and some of his many satellites (all named after his lovers), the Juice spacecraft had to be tested against the effects of the radiation environment induced by the magnetic fields surrounding the planet. Jupiter has a very strong magnetic field, which traps protons and electrons of energies up to several hundred megaelectronvolts with very large fluxes. The direct and indirect impact of high-energy electrons on modern electronic devices, and in particular their ability to cause SEE (single event effects), had never been studied before.

Located at CERN, the VESPER test facility was used to simulate the high-radiation environment surrounding Jupiter to prepare for ESA’s Juice mission to the largest planet in our Solar System. (Image: CERN)

CERN has the only facility on Earth that is able to replicate the most extreme phenomena of Jupiter’s harsh radiative environment. In 2018, in order to prepare the spacecraft for its exploration mission, ESA came to VESPER (the very energetic electron facility for space planetary exploration missions). There, engineers and physicists successfully tested the capacity of some of Juice’s critical electronic components to withstand high-energy electron fluxes for several years of operation. “The tests performed at CERN reinforce ESA’s planetary exploration ambitions and helped optimise the Juice spacecraft design,” says Giuseppe Sarri, ESA Juice project manager

“VESPER is part of CLEAR (the CERN Linear Electron Accelerator for Research). We are happy to have helped better understand, anticipate and mitigate the impact of Jupiter’s radiation. Godspeed Juice!”, says Roberto Corsini, CLEAR facility leader.

CERN is a recognised expert in the testing of satellites and space components against radiation. Another irradiation facility available to space users is CHARM, which, at the instigation of a recent European-funded project, will become a leading facility in Europe for high penetration testing of space electronics using high-energy heavy ions.

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More about CERN aerospace applications.

anschaef Thu, 04/13/2023 - 11:57

Byline

Antoine Le Gall

Publication Date

Fri, 04/14/2023 - 14:35