We present an analysis of the behavior of the detectors on the Infrared Spectrograph (IRS)¹ onboard Spitzer.² The detectors of the IRS have been subjected to a 2.5 years of harsh space environments. We found that the number of protons hitting the IRS detectors is approximately 1 every second. We also present a simple analysis that shows that the Si:Sb detectors are about a factor 3 to 6 times more sensitive to the space environment than the Si:As detectors.

Date Published: 7 July 2006
PDF: 8 pages
Proc. SPIE 6265, Space Telescopes and Instrumentation I: Optical, Infrared, and Millimeter, 62652F (7 July 2006); doi: 10.1117/12.672025

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 6265:
Space Telescopes and Instrumentation I: Optical, Infrared, and Millimeter
John C. Mather; Howard A. MacEwen; Mattheus W. M. de Graauw, Editor(s)