What is NEUDOSE?

The NEUtron DOSimetry & Exploration (NEUDOSE, pronounced “new-dose”) mission is a miniature cube satellite (CubeSat) designed by McMaster University students. The mission is an opportunity for early-career science and engineering students to develop their technical, leadership, and flight project development skills.

The NEUDOSE mission offers McMaster University students a new learning opportunity where students gain valuable and employable skills in:

• Project Design

• Project Management

• Electronics Design (High Speed, Embedded, Radio Frequency, Analog, Digital, etc.)

• Mechanical and Thermal Design

• Instrument Development

• Software and Firmware Development

• Monte Carlo and Finite Element Simulations (Thermal, Stress, Shock, Vibrational, Fatigue, etc.)

• Space Communications

• Amateur Radio

• Public Outreach & Education

Our Objectives

Educational:

As the first-ever space mission from McMaster University, the education objective of the NEUDOSE mission is to train the next generation of engineers, scientists, entrepreneurs, and business leaders. Students will develop science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) skills essential for their future success through hands-on scientific discovery. Participation in this project will contribute to student development and the next generation of highly qualified personnel (HQP). Students will have major responsibility for the design and implementation of the instruments and subsystems while at the same time being mentored by professionals in each expert area. The goal is to help establish a strong Canadian presence in future aerospace projects to see beyond our planet and into the vast reaches of our solar system.

Amateur Radio:

The NEUDOSE mission is actively involved in the development of qualified amateur radio operators and custom amateur radio hardware. The MIST team has developed an encouraging training environment for members to learn about the amateur community and achieve their amateur certificates. By doing this, students learn how to operate and control radios adhering to national and international regulations along with remotely controlling a spacecraft from Earth service stations. Our amateurs are provided with an educational platform for training and development through our custom amateur communication radio and ground station. The team operates under the Radio Amateurs of Canada (RAC) club call sign VA3MCM sponsored by amateurs within the team.

The communications module onboard the satellite is a novel low-power system prototyped for the NEUDOSE mission. This module has been in development by our basic and advanced amateur radio operators since early 2015. These amateurs are developing, building, and testing the system from first concepts to flight-ready hardware. The communications subsystem uses state-of-the-art radio frequency (RF) components and system design approaches to enable a communication link with our satellite. The module utilizes the amateur 2 m Very-High Frequency (VHF) and 70 cm Ultra-High Frequency (UHF) bands to establish uplinking and downlinking capabilities.

The NEUDOSE mission is also developing the University’s first amateur radio ground station partners with our Bachelor of Technology (BTech) department. The ground station system is designed and built by our amateurs using commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) components such as power amplifiers, filters, radio transceivers, etc. The intended home of the ground station is the Engineering Technology Building (ETB) rooftop located on campus. The hope is that this ground station will spawn new research areas within the University. The ground station will be in a prime location on campus and inspire curious minds to seek out its amateur radio purpose. The plan is to make the ground station available, once operational, to other amateur radio satellite operators worldwide.

More information regarding our Amateur Radio initiatives can be found here.

Scientific:

The scientific objective of the mission is to increase our understanding of the risks associated with prolonged exposure to space radiation by investigating the contributions of charged particles and neutrons to the total equivalent ambient dose in low-Earth orbit (LEO). The free space radiation environment in LEO consists predominantly of charged particles trapped in the Van Allen belts, galactic cosmic rays (GCR) originating from deep space, solar energetic particles (SEPs), and neutrons produced by the interaction of GCRs with the Earth’s atmosphere. From a radiobiological perspective, neutrons present the greatest risk because they are difficult to measure and can deeply penetrate the body and affect blood-forming marrow in bones. However, in comparison with the number of measurements made of other types of ionizing radiation relatively few measurements have been made of neutrons and their contribution to the total equivalent dose in LEO. If we are to commit astronauts to long-term exposure in the near-Earth or deep space environment, we must provide a resolution for the ambiguous contribution of neutrons to the total equivalent ambient dose.

To address the dosimetry challenges of current missions to the ISS, and future missions into deep space, the objective of our CNP-TEPC instrument is to demonstrate the application of new techniques and onboard data processing to measure the neutron contribution of total equivalent ambient dose in a space environment. A detailed summary of the instrument requirements, measurement objectives, and potential applications of the CNP-TEPC instrument are described in our recent paper by Hanu et al. The NEUDOSE CubeSat represents an important platform for increasing the technological readiness of the CNP-TEPC instrument. Making unique and new measurements of space radiation quality factors, the CNP-TEPC can characterize the space ionizing radiation environment in LEO. The instrument has the potential to revolutionize the way we characterize radiation risk by obtaining detailed measurements of the actual incident radiation field on a particle-by-particle basis in real-time. In doing so, NEUDOSE will further our understanding of risks associated with prolonged exposure to space radiation and contribute to the global goal of sending humans to Mars.

Technology Demonstration

1. In-flight demonstration of our full-duplex VHF/UHF Communication Module to achieve TRL-9.

2. In-flight demonstration of our CNP-TEPC radiation monitoring instrument to achieve TRL-9.

3. In-flight demonstration of our radiation-tolerant Onboard Computer (OBC) to achieve TRL-9.

Milestones