Modeling radiation-induced transients in the Next Generation Space Telescope (NGST)

The Next Generation Space Telescope (NGST) mission has extremely low noise requirements, of the order of a few electrons, combined with very long integration times of the order of 1000 seconds. The telescope will operate in an L2 orbit and will be exposed to galactic cosmic ray and solar flare radiation environments. As a risk reduction measure, the project is performing a radiation effects assessment of the impact of ionizing transients in the FPA on the science goals. This paper summarizes our approach to the assessment of radiation-induced transients and describes recent progress in model development.