Sift and The Rad Team Take On Space Radiation Testing

Radiation testing company checks full test recordings with Sift, backing customer reports and a public parts database.

MARINA DEL REY, Calif. & LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sift, the end-to-end platform for teams building advanced hardware, and The Radiation Team (The Rad Team), a radiation testing and engineering company for space systems, today shared how The Rad Team’s engineers use Sift to review data from radiation test campaigns. The findings feed the company’s customer reports and its public Radiation Parts Database.

Every company building hardware for space reaches a moment where it has to know its electronics will survive radiation. More teams now build with commercial, off-the-shelf parts that were never designed for space, and demand for testing has outgrown supply. A 2024 study The Rad Team performed under a Department of Defense contract found that government and commercial space programs need 20,000 to 25,000 hours of heavy ion testing a year, while U.S. facilities can provide 6,000 to 8,000. A campaign can take three months of preparation for one or two days at the beam, and the data from that window can’t simply be collected again.

That data is hard to review. Two measurements recorded at 25,000 readings per second for 45 minutes produce more than 100 million readings, and the event that matters may last only a handful of samples. Engineers used to review each run by hand and build reports from screenshots.

“Some of the most important tests in space hardware happen long before anything flies,” said Austin Spiegel, Co-Founder and CEO of Sift. “We’re excited to help The Rad Team turn test data into answers their customers can trust. Sift helps engineers check full recordings and document findings, giving customers the evidence to decide which hardware they send into space.”

The Rad Team uploads its recorded test files to Sift. Engineers define rules for how a part should behave, such as the voltage range it should stay within, and Sift flags every period in the full recording that falls outside it. Engineers then investigate each flagged event, annotate what they find, and carry those findings into customer reports. The Rad Team makes the qualification calls. Sift helps the team’s engineers examine and document the evidence behind them.

In March 2026, The Rad Team launched its Radiation Parts Database, which engineers can search without registering. It combines published radiation test results with data from The Rad Team’s own campaigns. Public reports are free, and The Rad Team’s reports are available for purchase.

“Most of our customers are building something that’s never been built before, and radiation shouldn’t be what slows them down,” said Merek Chertkow, Founder and CEO of The Rad Team. “Every time the same part gets retested without anyone knowing, it takes beam time someone else needed. Starting from what’s already known means customers only pay to test what’s new.”

Search the Radiation Parts Database at radiationteam.com/radiation-parts-database. Learn more about Sift at siftstack.com.

About Sift:
Sift is the fastest path from prototype to ops. The end-to-end platform for teams building advanced hardware, Sift brings every sensor into one place, turns raw data into decisions the same day, and scales from first test to operations. Founded by former SpaceX engineers, Sift serves teams across aerospace, defense, and robotics and is headquartered in Los Angeles with an office in San Francisco. Learn more at siftstack.com.

About The Rad Team:
The Radiation Team (The Rad Team) provides radiation testing, mission assurance, and radiation-tolerant hardware for space systems. Founded in 2022, the company works with commercial, government, and academic programs. Its mission is to lower the barrier to entry for access and operations in space. Learn more at radiationteam.com.