Orbit Selection for FLUX

In running FLUX, you must specify one of two possible types of orbits:

• Geosynchronous or Near-Earth Interplanetary:
  • In this case, there is no geomagnetic shielding and no trapped particles.
  • CREME treats geosynchronous and near-Earth interplanetary environments as identical. Strictly speaking, this is not correct, but the differences arise at energies below ~5 MeV/nuc, which are irrelevant for single-event effects (SEEs). These low energies are also generally irrelevant for solar-panel dose effects, since typical coverglass thickness (~10 mils) also excludes protons below ~5 MeV.
  • The CREME interplanetary flux model (galactic cosmic rays, anomalous cosmic rays, and solar energetic particles) are based on measurements at Earth (1 AU). The model can probably also be used in orbits out to Mars (~1.5 AU), but it is not applicable to inner heliosphere or deep-space missions.
• Inside the Magnetosphere: in this case:
  • You must specify the name of a geomagnetic transmission file ("something.gtf" or .gt*) calculated with the GTRN program. This file must be created before you run FLUX.
  • Optionally, you can also specify the name of a trapped proton file ("something.trp" or .tr*) from the TRP module. This file must also be created before you run FLUX. See FLX/TRP Option for further details.

At present, CREME does not offer ballistic trajectories.