Overview of present state of knowledge of heating effects from the space radiation environment, and brief description of a candidate experiment to perform a calorimetric study of the space radiation environment to the accuracy desirable for the Fundamental Physics program. Model allows deconvolution of altitude from attitude in heating estimates, and permits predictions of galactic cosmic ray heating on the space station. Rough estimates of heating by trapped particles in the SAA are also presented. A computer program has been constructed to simulate the behavior of paramagnetic salt thermometers being impacted by highly penetrating cosmic rays. The simulation includes the effects of part geometry and intrinsic thermal fluctuations.
Important behaviors are thermometer noise and offset.
The simulation is validated by comparison of calculated results to real data from the Lambda Point Experiment. The validation is successful to within our ability to specify the input thermal model. This simulation finds that both designs can meet the temperature noise requirement, with the two designs having different strengths and weaknesses. Trade studies are performed varying different features of the designs. Trends are found which should be of use in constructing the final design for flight.