CubeSat

I lead the design of the Cosmic Ray Detector (CRD) of the YUAA (Yale Undergraduate Aerospace Association) CubeSat. Its main goal is to map the flux of Cosmic Rays around the South Atlantic Anomaly. The South Atlantic Anomaly is an area of high cosmic ray density due to weaker magnetic fields.  

The Cosmic Ray detector uses a plastic scintillator that produces photons from cosmic ray hits. We use a silicon photomultiplier (SiPM) to produce a signal from these photons. We are working to build an analog amplification and signal binning system using high-frequency Op-Amps and comparators.

I have worked to design the CRD PCB by using and teaching members, schematic, and PCB software like Multisim and Ultiboard. In addition, I put together PCBs using a pick-and-place machine. 

I have also used and taught circuit simulation through the software LTSPICE, allowing us to test a multitude of designs and approaches before building them in real life.

We have worked together to perform physical prototype testing across breadboards and PCBs to understand whether our circuit works, the limits of our equipment, and where improvements can be made.