ABSTRACT
One of the biggest challenges of solar system exploration is the variety of extreme environments that orbiters, landers, and probes must encounter and survive. The planetary environments are organized by extremes in temperature; however, it is evident that missions will often encounter multiple extremes simultaneously. National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the Soviet Union Space Agency, and the European Space Agency have sent landers to the Moon, Mars, and Venus, as well as atmospheric probes to Jupiter, Venus, and Titan. High-pressure and high-temperature environments have been experienced by the Soviet and US missions to the deep atmosphere and surface of Venus. While ionizing radiation environments are ubiquitous in space, the most severe environments are encountered in the Jupiter radiation belts. In its multiyear mission, the Galileo orbiter not only provided the most complete characterization of this environment, but also was exposed to a cumulative dose of 600 krad, which is much higher than any other planetary spacecraft.
