High-Power Microwave Threat to a Notional Earth-Observing Space Telescope

A high-power microwave (HPM) attack on a receive antenna of an Earth-observing satellite (EOS) may induce voltages on EOS telescope wiring that can damage focal plane arrays. A ground-based HPM source, using a 50-ns pulsewidth, 6 GW peak power, 44 GHz, 20-year-old HPM tube, driving a 5-m diameter antenna, can irradiate wiring in a 30-cm telescope at an altitude of 600 km, with a focused, 23 kV/m, 4.7-cm diameter field. This field can damage pn junctions at wire-IC interfaces. Electromagnetic pulse hardening protects military EOSs, but other EOSs are at risk.