Background
As the space industry continues to grow and access to orbital flight expands, the community of academia and student-focused CubeSat programs is likewise rapidly growing. With this development, there comes a perceived need for lower cost and faster turnaround science instruments. These instruments would ideally have dual roles as on-orbit explorers and classroom or hobbyist class laboratory equipment for training the future generation of the space industry. To this end, this team has been adapting an open-source desktop particle detector as a generalized CubeSat form factor instrument to serve this dual role explorer/educator need.
This new instrument is based on a cosmic ray detector originally developed by Dr. Axani from MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) as an open-source project for his thesis called, the Cosmic Watch. The Cosmic Watch (V.2) combines a scintillator block and a silicon photomultiplier coupled with an Arduino Nano to become a low-cost desktop muon detector. From here, Bronco Space, at California State Polytechnic University - Pomona, has changed the form factor of the Cosmic Watch to a standard PC104 form factor, 90mm (about 3.54 in) by 96mm (about 3.78 in). This adjustment shall allow the device to be integrated easily into future satellite missions into the PC104 form factor. Along with the change of the form factor, a few of the components were changed on the board. These changes were made to improve the rigidity of the design, decrease physical space requirements, and accommodate the existing PC104 structure. To ensure ease of assembly, all components have been placed on the same side of the board as some PCB manufacturers offer 1 face assembly; quicker testing, and reduces time per revision. Additionally, a software rework is underway to abstract the muon detection capabilities of the instrument to other particle types.
Cosmic Watch PC104
Theory
The selection of a cosmic ray detector as the basis for this dual-role science instrument is supported by both the scientific value of expanding observations of cosmic radiation and the relatively simple deployment of such an instrument in a space environment learning ecosystem. Cosmic Rays profuse throughout our universe with no definitive knowledge of their origin despite best estimates ranging from exploding supernovas and distant galaxies and travel faster than the speed of light all over the universe. Because cosmic rays are composed of ionizing particles ranging across the standard model of elementary particles, they can potentially damage onboard electronics during flight; and thus this cost-efficient particle detector designed for low barrier to entry presents an ideal payload for future missions in effort to better understand this effect.
Moreover, In an effort to mitigate exposure for future potential missions, the cosmic watch can be used to detect and identify possible sources that produce cosmic rays within our universe and can offer the possible orbiting path routes that future satellites and maned space missions can take to avoid high particle events.
Cosmic Radiation from Our Universe
Presentation at Small Sat 2022
The Team
Design, Manufacturing, and Testing
Image of PC104 Cosmic Watch PCB Drawing
3D Image of PC104 Cosmic Watch PCB Viewer
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Image of PC104 Cosmic Watch PCB's
Radiation Testing with a Cs-137 Test Source