Plasteel® is utilized across a broad range of spacecraft electronics and subsystem applications where radiation-driven faults, Single Event Effects (SEEs), and secondary radiation environments can impact mission reliability and operational life.

Applications include onboard compute systems, payload electronics, storage architectures, optical systems, sensors, avionics, FPGA-based processing, RF/microwave electronics, and high-speed data handling systems operating in radiation environments.

The technology has demonstrated strong applicability for modern COTS electronics, including GPUs, FPGAs, SSDs, and AI/ML-enabled onboard processing architectures that are increasingly susceptible to intermittent radiation-driven faults.

Plasteel® shielding implementations support integration ranging from localized chip- and board-level shielding to enclosure-, panel-, and subsystem-level architectures. The technology is compatible with both standalone shielding implementations and hybrid metal-polymer enclosure approaches for modern spacecraft systems.

Applications span commercial, civil, defense, scientific, and crewed mission architectures across LEO, MEO, GEO, cislunar, lunar, and deep-space environments.

Plasteel® Shielding Technology for Modern Spacecraft Electronics

Plasteel® is a proprietary hydrogen-rich shielding technology designed to support reliable operation of modern spacecraft electronics operating in radiation environments.

The architecture is intended to help mitigate radiation-driven intermittent faults, Single Event Effects (SEEs), and secondary radiation interactions affecting high-performance electronics and onboard systems. The technology supports shielding implementations across component, board, enclosure, and subsystem integration levels while maintaining compatibility with mass-constrained spacecraft architectures.

Key Performance Characteristics

• Designed for modern spacecraft electronics including compute, payload, sensing, storage, avionics, and onboard processing systems
• Lightweight shielding density of 0.967 g/cm³ supporting spacecraft mass optimization strategies
• Hydrogen-rich shielding architecture intended to reduce secondary radiation effects relative to traditional metallic shielding approaches
• Demonstrated >90% reduction in specific SEE/SET test configurations under evaluated conditions
• Demonstrated neutron attenuation advantages relative to aluminum in evaluated environments
• Applicable to chip-, board-, enclosure-, and subsystem-level shielding implementations
• Compatible with additive manufacturing, machining, molding, and hybrid enclosure integration approaches
• Flight heritage associated with onboard compute, payload electronics, and spacecraft subsystem applications

Plasteel® supports both mission-specific custom implementations and scalable shielding architectures for spacecraft and payload developers.

Plasteel® shielding solutions can be customized based on mission environment, geometry constraints, integration requirements, mass targets, and subsystem architecture.

CSC supports implementations ranging from localized component-level shielding to integrated enclosure and subsystem solutions.

Available configurations include:

• CNC-machined shielding components
• Additively manufactured geometries
• Custom panel and enclosure architectures
• Hybrid metal-polymer shielding structures
• Sensor and payload shielding implementations
• Mission-specific thickness optimization
• Low-outgassing material configurations

Both prototype and production configurations are supported.

Plasteel® shielding technologies have achieved TRL 9 maturity with flight heritage associated with ISS and commercial spacecraft missions.

Applications have included onboard compute systems, payload electronics, optical payload architectures, camera backplanes, sensors, SSD storage systems, and subsystem-level shielding implementations operating in LEO environments.

CSC shielding technologies have supported spacecraft and payload architectures incorporating modern high-performance electronics and onboard processing systems.

CSC manufactures Plasteel® shielding solutions using proprietary hydrogen-rich shielding architectures designed for spacecraft integration.

Manufacturing approaches support:

• Precision-machined shielding geometries
• Additive manufacturing approaches
• Molded shielding architectures
• Bonded hybrid structures
• Enclosure and subsystem integration
• Lightweight spacecraft implementations
• Mission-specific customization

Solutions are designed to support both prototype development and scalable production implementations for spacecraft and payload integrators.

Plasteel® shielding technologies have undergone radiation evaluation across multiple proton, neutron, and heavy-ion environments relevant to modern spacecraft electronics applications.

Testing and characterization activities have included:

• Proton radiation environments including 50-480 MeV test campaigns
• Heavy ion SEE-focused evaluations across multiple ion species and LET environments
• Neutron attenuation characterization and comparative shielding studies
• Secondary radiation interaction studies
• Intermittent fault mitigation and SEE reduction evaluations
• Material characterization for spacecraft integration environments

Material systems are compatible with spacecraft integration considerations including NASA/ASTM low-outgassing evaluation approaches, with measured values of TML 0.15% and CVCM 0.04%.

EAR

CSC shielding technologies support commercial spacecraft developers, payload integrators, onboard compute providers, and government-related space programs.