Thursday morning focused on Concepts and Payloads for Scientific Missions. Presentations discussed various payloads, such as the miniaturized X-Ray telescope designed by the UTEF Czech Technical University. The VZLUSAT-1 telescope can be used to monitor the sun or to search for Gamma Rays. The Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy (BISA) also presented their In-Orbit Demonstrator, PICASSO. PICASSO includes a hyper-spectral imager, and a four needle Sweeping Langmuir probe which will be used to study ozone distribution.

A representative from NASA Goddard Space Flight Center discussed the risks of human space missions, focusing on exposure to radiation during a mission to mars. The Neutron Dosimetry and Exploration Mission (NEUDOSE) mission aims to analyze the effects of long term exposure to space radiation and to develop a Tissue Equivalent Proportional Counter (TEPC) to study charged particles. The NEUDOSE TEPC will be attached to a 3U CubeSat and launched into Low Earth Orbit.

The Cosmic Particle Telescope (CPT-SCOPE) was created by a group of students from various institutions in Norway and Germany including the Norwegian University of Science and Technology and the Beuth Hochschule für Technik Berlin. The CPT-SCOPE project aims to create an low-cost radiation monitor and has therefore opted to include commercial off-the-shelf components such as a raspberry pi. They have also opted for a trigger based design.

Presentations continued in the afternoon with presentations about Attitude Determination and Control Systems (ADCS), Flight and Ground Experience, and Ground Stations. Our ADCS lead was in attendance and found the ADCS presentations exceptionally helpful and informative. Since this is our first satellite we were really grateful to hear presentations from groups who had more experience and lots of advice. We’ve learned so much on this trip that will help us in these coming months as we start our test campaign and finish Ex Alta-1.