Influence of nuclear de-excitation on observables relevant for space exploration

While it is generally acknowledged that it is necessary to accurately simulate the first reaction stage, transport-code users often neglect or underestimate the importance of the choice of the de-excitation code. The purpose of this work is to prove that the de-excitation model is in fact a non-negligible source of uncertainty for the prediction of several observables of crucial importance for space applications. For some particular observables, the systematic uncertainty due to the de-excitation model actually dominates the total uncertainty. Our point will be illustrated by making use of nucleon-nucleus calculations performed with several intranuclear-cascade/de-excitation models, such as the Liège Intranuclear Cascade model (incl4) and Isabel (for the cascade part) and abla07, Dresner, gem, gemini++ and smm (on the de-excitation side).