M-STAFE

Maximum Solar and Trapped Particle Flux Estimator (M-STAFE) is a fast, user-friendly tool designed to estimate the maximum charged particle flux spectra that a satellite may encounter along its orbit. It combines outputs from the AE-8/AP-8 and AE-9/AP-9 radiation models and incorporates maximum flux values derived from cross-calibrated historical solar proton measurements from spacecraft at GEO and L1, delivering conservative, mission-relevant maximum flux estimates.

For trapped radiation:

• Electrons: The maximum flux maps were derived from the 99th percentile of the AE-9 model.
• Protons: A combined approach was applied, selecting the higher flux values between AP-8 MAX and the 99th percentile of AP-9, ensuring conservative estimates where AP-8 MAX exceeds AP-9 outputs.

Orbit Definition

Users can define a mission orbit by specifying four key parameters:

• Duration: Total time in orbit (days)
• Inclination: Orbital inclination (degrees)
• Perigee Altitude: Minimum orbital altitude (km)
• Apogee Altitude: Maximum orbital altitude (km)

Outputs

M-STAFE provides:

• Maximum electron and proton flux spectra across the full orbit (trapped radiation environment)
• Historical worst-case solar proton spectra, assuming no magnetospheric shielding (unshielded conditions)

Acknowledgments

M-STAFE was developed by SPARC for the M-PRISE activity under the ESA contract 4000150650/25/NL/CRS with ASRO. It is built upon established space radiation environment resources, including outputs from the AE-8/AP-8 radiation models and IRENE (AE-9/AP-9) radiation models, the ESA SEPEM Reference Dataset, and the FIRSPELL dataset developed under ESA Contract 4000142510/23/NL/CRS.