The Gamma-Ray Module (GMOD) is a novel gamma-ray detector developed for the study of high energy astrophysical transients called Gamma-Ray Bursts. GMOD has been designed in-house and will be flown on board EIRSAT-1, intended to be Ireland's first satellite, a 2U CubeSat developed as part of the European Space Agency's Fly Your Satellite! programme. The detector comprises a 25×25×40mm CeBr 3 scintillator, coupled to a tiled array of 16 OnSemiconductor Silicon Photomultipliers with front-end readout provided by the IDE3380 SIPHRA. The readout is received by the GMOD Motherboard which provides temporary storage and support functionality for the instrument operation, including the transfer of Time-Tagged Event data to the EIRSAT-1 On Board Computer. The Engineering Qualification Model was environmentally tested following an approach tailored from the ECSS standards in early February 2020 at the CubeSat Support Facility in Transinne, Belgium. This campaign was conducted to qualify the hardware for low Earth orbit, including multi-axis vibration testing and thermal-vacuum cycling under qualification test levels and durations. GMOD was mounted on a 20kN electrodynamic shaker in which it underwent predefined sine and random vibration test profiles, demonstrating its ability to withstand the launch environment. The instrument was then thermally cycled under vacuum over
ESA Academy is the European Space Agency’s overarching educational programme for university students. It takes them through a learning path that complements their academic education by offering a tailored transfer of space knowledge and interaction with space professionals. As a result, students can enhance their skills, boost their motivation and ambitions, and become acquainted with the standard professional practices in the space sector. This happens through the two pillars of ESA Academy, the Training and Learning Programme and the Hands-on Programmes. The latter enables university students to gain first-hand, end-to-end experience of space-related projects. One of the latest additions to the portfolio of opportunities for university students is “Orbit Your Thesis!”. It offers bachelor, master, and PhD students the opportunity to design, build, test, and operate their experiment onboard the International Space Station. The experiment operates within the ICE Cubes Facility in ESA’s Columbus module, where it can operate for up to four months in microgravity. Throughout the programme students develop essential scientific, academic, and professional skills that will help them build their future careers. These skills include project management, risk identification and mitigation, problem-solving, and working within a diverse workplace. Participating teams will experience first-hand the project management process for space missions and participate in multiple reviews of their experiment and design throughout the programme. Participating students are supported and guided through the process by engineers and scientists from ESA, Space Applications Services, and members of the European Low Gravity Research Association. The programme schedule follows a similar path to many space-faring projects. The design, development, testing, launch preparation and operations are structured in a series of project phases and technical reviews. Participating teams are guided towards the subsequent milestones to pass the necessary safety reviews and achieve launch readiness. The first team that successfully sent up their ICE Cube is OSCAR-QUBE, a multidisciplinary team from the University of Hasselt in Belgium. Their experiment is the first diamond-based quantum magnetometer that ever operated in space. Thanks to the unique characteristics of their sensor, they have been mapping the Earth’s magnetic field from inside the Columbus module aboard the ISS without the need to be housed on the exterior. This paper will describe the various phases and technical aspects of the programme in more detail
The ESA Academy is the ESA Education Office’s overarching programme for university students. The Academy’s portfolio consists of both ‘hands-on’ activities, and a Training and Learning Programme. Conventionally both of these elements involve a significant number of in person events, for example training sessions, workshops and test and launch campaigns. The educational nature and practical aspects of such events has traditionally necessitated in person participation. Additionally, most of the Academy’s ‘hands-on’ programmes revolve around student teams designing, building, testing and operating an experiment or spacecraft, activities which rely on the availability and delivery of commercial components, and access to manufacturing, testing and launch facilities, and laboratories. In March 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic, and associated restrictions, began to take hold in Europe, nearly all the ESA Academy programmes were affected. Despite the challenges, the Academy continued to deliver activities, and the student teams participating in the Academy’s programmes continued to achieve major milestones, including launching experiments to the ISS, CubeSat testing and launch and execution of micro- and hyper-gravity experiments. This paper explores the challenges faced during COVID-19 and how both the programmes and the students participating in the programmes adapted to meet their educational, scientific, and technical goals. Furthermore, the longer-term adaptation of some of these changes into the future execution of the programmes is discussed
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.