Cajun ProbeConceptual Design Review

University of Louisiana at LafayetteMark Roberts

10.16.2009

Table of Contents

Mission Overview Narrative Expectations

Cosmic Rays Related Research

Mission Requirements Success & Benefits Design

Expected Results Canister Compliance

Shared Logistic Plan Management

Team Timeline

Mission OverviewObjectives

Design and implement a robust, compact payload to latter be integrated into a probe.

Develop improved Geiger Counter circuit.

Testing of payload’s durability and performance under space conditions.

Obtain and analyze data for a baseline of future experiments.

Mission Overview

Mission Overview

• Narrative

Expanding on RockOn 2008

GPSMore

Temperature SensorsLarger

Memory

Improved Geiger

Counter Circuit

Previous experiments have proven inconclusive with Geiger

Counter circuit.

Therefore, a more robust circuit and improved

Geiger-Muller tube is

necessary.

Mission Overview

•Narrative• Expectations

Experiment Expectations

• Cosmic RadiationULL expects to quantify the cosmic radiation and analyze it’s relation to temperature(s) and pressure.

• Further Development of ProbeAgain, this phase of the project is just a step towards ULL’s ultimate goal which is to develop a extremely robust probe to be launched into thunderstorms.

• Finally have an Improved Geiger CounterCircuit that is robust enough to operate efficiently and properly in harsh environments.

Mission Overview

•Narrative• Expectations•Cosmic Rays

Cosmic Rays (CRs)Discovered by Victor Hess in 1912

Electrically charged particles that bombard Earth where the flux of the CRs will be different at different latitudes &

altitudes.

CRs led to the discovery of the first muon and pion, however the main focus of cosmic ray research is where they originate and how they are accelerated to such high velocities—their role in the dynamics of the Galaxy.

It is believed that CRs originate from outside our galaxy from active galactic nuclei, quasars, or gamma ray bursts.

Another belief is that galactic CR’s derive their energy from supernovaexplosions and evidence exists to suggest that CR’s are accelerated as the shock waves from these explosions, traveling through interstellar gas where the energy contributed to the Galaxy by the CRs is about that contained in galactic magnetic fields and in the thermal energy of the gas that it passes through.

Mission Overview

•Narrative• Expectations•Cosmic Rays

When high energy cosmic rays collide with the atoms in Earth’s atmosphere a shower

of secondary particles are produced, correspondingly the frequency of particles reaching Earth’s surface is directly related to the energy of the cosmic ray(s) which can be measured with a Geiger counter.

Mission Overview

•Narrative• Expectations•Cosmic Rays• Related Research

2006 2007 2009

Payload Size10 x 10 x 10

cm23.3 x 23.3 x

4.7 cmMass 500 g 1.590 kg

Construction

Foam box with

lightweight wood and

plastic structure

RockOn Canister

3 kg latex sounding balloon(12 lb

payload)

Number of Participants

Few Louisiana

universities and colleges

4 universities 8 universities several several

Research Topic

Geiger counter kit with BASIC

stamp controller

Film-based cosmic ray detector

(aluminum)

Film-based cosmic ray

detector with added OSL-

based dosimeters

Improved Geiger

counter kit

Sounding Rocket

Payload

Launch Date 25-May-05 4-Sep-06 2-Sep-07 11-Sep-09 27-Jun-08

Launch Location

NASA CSBF, Palestine, TX

NASA Wallops

Flight Facility, Virgina

Altitude 108,500 ft 122,300 ft 123,000 ft 122,000 ft 206,692 ftFloat Time Few minutes 14 hrs 16 hrs 15 hrs ≈ 15 min

10 kg

Metal structural frame and container

RockOnItem LaACESHASP

15 x 14 x 14 cm

Balloon11 million cubic feet research balloon

(2,000 lb payload)

NASA CSBF, Fort Sumner, NM

Modified Orion Rocket

Related Research

Mission Overview

•Narrative• Expectations•Cosmic Rays• Related Research

T-MAT H°600 film showing cosmic ray

tracks

High Energy Particles (E > 250 MeV) Low Energy Particles (E ≤ 250 MeV)

Measured fluence of high & low energy protons & electrons

OSL Badges

Mission Overview

•Narrative• Expectations•Cosmic Rays• Related Research•Mission Requirements

Requirement Method Status

RBF Pin Design/Test GO

Volume Constraints Design/Test

Weight Constraints Design/Test

Shock Constraints Design/Test

Thermodynamic Protection Design/Test

Electronic Noise Protection Design/Test

Mission Objectives Design/Test

Mission Requirements

Mission Overview

•Narrative• Expectations•Cosmic Rays• Related Research•Mission Requirements•Success & Benefits

Success & BenefitsSuccess for this mission is dependent on the performance

of the Geiger counter. That is, an accurate measure of the total flux of the cosmic rays with respect to altitude.

• Comparison of data and efficiency with previous cosmic ray measurements made with film and OSL badges.

• UL Lafayette having an optimized Geiger circuit that will be integrated into future experiments and into our own High Power Rockets.

• The optimized Geiger circuit will be developed into a kit and function as an introduction to Balloon & Sounding Rocket payloads to undergraduates and possibly used as an outreach program as well.

AVRMicrocontrollerZ

Accelerometer

X/YAccelerometer

Temperature & Pressure Sensor

GPS

Geiger Circuit

G-switch

Flash Memory

RBF

Power Sub-system

4 channel

ADC

Port Sensors

BatteriesLithium 9 Volt

AVRPCB

PowerData

Mission Overview

•Narrative• Expectations•Cosmic Rays• Related Research•Mission Requirements•Success & Benefits•Design

Functional Block Diagram

Mission Overview

•Narrative• Expectations•Cosmic Rays• Related Research•Mission Requirements•Success & Benefits•Design

Geiger Counter Circuit

Geiger-Muller Tube

Tube SpecificationsGas Filling Ne + HalogenCathode Material 446 StainlessMax Length (inch) 7Max Diameter (inch) 1.5Connector BNCOperating Temp (°C) -40Areal Density (mG/cm2) 1.5-2.0Effective Diameter (inch) 1.13Material MicaOperating Voltage (Volts) 500Gamma Sensitivity Co60 (CPS/MR/HR)

100

Weights (grams) 200

Mission Overview

•Narrative• Expectations•Cosmic Rays• Related Research•Mission Requirements•Success & Benefits•Design

Schematic of RockOn 2008 AVR Board

Mission Overview

•Narrative• Expectations•Cosmic Rays• Related Research•Mission Requirements•Success & Benefits•Design

Temperature Sensor

GPSTrimble Lassen

iQ module

External port for atmospheric

measurements

Mission Overview

•Narrative• Expectations•Cosmic Rays• Related Research•Mission Requirements•Success & Benefits•Design•Expected Results

Expected Results

Comparison of data and efficiency with previous cosmic ray measurements made with film and OSL badges.

UL Lafayette having an optimized Geiger circuit will be integrated into a sub-system of a Probe that will be launch over and into thunderstorms in hopes to see if

A. Thunderstorms emit gamma radiation andB. For the probe to collect vertical slices of the

thunderstorm so it can be properly modeled and analyzed in hopes to further understand this phenomena and to reduce error in modeling.

Relevance

Mission Overview

•Narrative• Expectations•Cosmic Rays• Related Research•Mission Requirements•Success & Benefits•Design•Expected Results•Canister Compliance

Type of Restriction Restriction StatusMass Allotment ≈ 2 Kg Volume allotment 1/3

Payload's center of gravity 1''x 1''x 1'' envelope

Wallops No-Volt Compliance Structure Mounts Sharing Yes

Canister Compliance

Payload will only activate if and only if the following conditions have been satisfied:

1. RBF Pin has been shorted.2. A vertical acceleration has engaged the

G-switch for a finite amount of time.Only at this time will the payload become

active and consume current.

Mission Overview

•Narrative• Expectations•Cosmic Rays• Related Research•Mission Requirements•Success & Benefits•Design•Expected Results•Canister Compliance•Logistics of Shared Canister

Logistics of Shared Canister

UL LafayetteMass Allotment ≈ 2 Kg Port

requestedVolume allotment 1/3West Virginia University

Mass Allotment ? Port requestedVolume allotment 1/5

Temple UniversityMass allotment ? ?Volume allotment ?

UL Lafayette Expansion of RockOn 2008 with improved Geiger Counter, GPS, and other modifications.

West VirginiaMulti-Instrumental payload measuring Ionosphere density, the magnetic field, and ambient temperature.

TemplePayload consists of a vibration isolation (damping) mechanism.

Mission Overview

•Narrative• Expectations•Cosmic Rays• Related Research•Mission Requirements•Success & Benefits•Design•Expected Results•Canister Compliance•Logistics of Shared Canister•Management

Andy Hollermansuperivsor

Mark RobertsGraduate Student

Compact Payload

Design

Build

Integrate

Test

Programming

Design

Implementation

Documentation

Presentations

Team Management

Mission Overview

•Narrative• Expectations•Cosmic Rays• Related Research•Mission Requirements•Success & Benefits•Design•Expected Results•Canister Compliance•Logistics of Shared Canister•Management

Timeline for project completion