I'm guessing that these spacecraft have none of the mission requirements that most others have. They're not doing a flyby mission where they have to work during the flyby, or doing anything actually critical (such as provide comms/science, or use propulsion). The system is designed to reboot in the case of problems, which
The closest to a mission goal I can find in the post is "This approach allows engineers to see what capabilities commercial technologies can provide, rather than trying to custom-design technology solutions to meet set requirements." So the only goal is to see _if_ they work.
Trust me, if other missions could get away with less shielding, they would. That's one reason why RBSP[1] is being launched, so we can better understand the radiation environment in Earth's orbit, so future missions aren't undershielded or sent up with unneccessary shielding. But I doubt that most big-budget missions could get away with no shielding.
[1] Shameless plug/full disclosure: I have been working on this project for the last 2+ years, and am now one of its flight controllers. For updates, you can check rbsp.jhuapl.edu or http://spaceflightnow.com/atlas/av032/status.html
The closest to a mission goal I can find in the post is "This approach allows engineers to see what capabilities commercial technologies can provide, rather than trying to custom-design technology solutions to meet set requirements." So the only goal is to see _if_ they work.
Trust me, if other missions could get away with less shielding, they would. That's one reason why RBSP[1] is being launched, so we can better understand the radiation environment in Earth's orbit, so future missions aren't undershielded or sent up with unneccessary shielding. But I doubt that most big-budget missions could get away with no shielding.
[1] Shameless plug/full disclosure: I have been working on this project for the last 2+ years, and am now one of its flight controllers. For updates, you can check rbsp.jhuapl.edu or http://spaceflightnow.com/atlas/av032/status.html