Backed by a recent $11.4 million Department of Defense (DOD) contract through the Missile Defense Agency (MDA), Auburn University's Applied Research Institute (AUARI) in Huntsville, Alabama's Cummings Research Park is establishing a cutting-edge radiation hardening, or rad hardening, facility — the only university-led facility of its kind in the nation — to help ensure the reliability of military technology in the harsh radiation environments encountered in space.
"The capacity to test the microelectronics necessary for sustaining and improving MDA's space assets is crucial to the future of national defense," said Steve Taylor, senior vice president for research and economic development. "This new facility will provide testing that will allow us to evaluate the possible effects of extreme radiation exposure."
The significant shortage of rad hardening infrastructure articulated in recent reports by government agencies like NASA, the National Academies of Sciences and the Office of Secretary of Defense is something that AUARI stands ready to tackle.
"Establishing a radiation hardening test facility just outside the gates of Redstone Arsenal will provide a regional testing capability to address this national shortage," said Melanie Baker, AUARI principal research scientist. "Auburn University has a long history and continued commitment to supporting our DOD and NASA customers and we are extraordinarily proud to partner with MDA on this critical need."
Baker was a part of the Auburn team that recently traveled to Boston to purchase a multi-million-dollar cyclotron necessary for simulating space radiation. Previously used for therapy in cancer treatment, the particle accelerator will be the centerpiece of the institute's rad hardening arsenal.
"We're at a critical juncture, but whether we're talking expertise or resources, filling that gap — and quickly — is exactly why the Applied Research Institute was established," Baker said.
