PULSE

Monitoring the cosmic radiation environment in LEO

OUR MISSION

Space weather effects, particularly near Earth, can result in cosmic radiation fluctuations that affect
spacecraft electronics and satellite radio communications in Low Earth Orbit (LEO). We are a team of 30 multidisciplinary students from Technische Universität Berlin that aims to investigate the radiation environment during a solar flare event within a 3P PocketQube configuration. Equipped with a novel radiation detector, our mission is to map particle flux, total dose rate and radiation field composition during a solar flare event.

STUDENTS

NATIONALITIES

POCKETQUBE

FEATURES OF PULSE

Payload

Advanced radiation camera with an ASIC chip that enables detailed particle characterization. 256 x 256 pixels.

Attitute control

Custom embedded air coils for rotation damping. Up to 30-35 loops can be implemented on the 1P side with a min. torque of 1.6 µN. Rotation rates of 5°/s can be achieved from an initial 90°/s in
<99 minutes on the smaller side.

On-board processing

Custom-built for efficiency and reliability, and optimized for low power consumption. Storage capacity with 32 GB eMMC memory, and Linux-compatible as an uncommon requirement which we adapted.

Telecommunication

Omnidirectional UHF transceiver with two dipole antennas operates at 435.95 MHz delivering an output power of 2 dBW and a data rate of 9.6 kbps.

RECENT MILESTONES

PULSE selected as a finalist for the ESA Fly Your Satellite Competition (January 26, 2024)

Recently, we were 1 of 8 finalist teams who received the incredible opportunity to pitch our passion project to expert judges from the European Space Agency at the ESTEC Centre in the Netherlands. Besides receiving helpful feedback, we were also treated to a series of space lectures and a tour of the Space Expo, which included a live-sized version of the Columbus module. Blog post to come!