SPaRKLE onboard Space Rider: A student-lead project for particle detection in space

Riccardo Nicolaidis

Department of Physics, Università di Trento

Key takeaways

SPaRKLE (Small Particle Recognition Heat for Low Energies) is part of the ESA Academy Experiment Program.
SPaRKLE will be deployed on SpaceRider, a high-tech uncrewed robotic lab, which offers essential interfaces, allowing the team to focus on the payload development.
The scientific objectives of the SPaRKLE projects involve the study of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), terrestrial gamma-ray flashes (TGFs), and radiation environment around Earth.
The design is compact, a 10x10x10 cm CubeSat and includes plastic scintillators, silicon photomultipliers, and calorimeters.
SPaRKLE's detection process for particles such as electrons, protons, and photons exploits a combination of plastic and silicon scintillators, along with silicon photomultipliers.
SPaRKLE is currently in its initial stages of development, with plans for preliminary design and testing in the coming months.

Summary of the talk

Riccardo Nicolaidis, a PhD student from the University of Trento, presented the SPaRKLE project as part of the ESA Academy Experiment Program, which promotes educational projects in space science. The SPaRKLE project aims at exploring high-energy astrophysical phenomena. SPaRKLE leverages the SpaceRider facility, a high-tech uncrewed robotic laboratory in orbit for two months. SpaceRider will provide the mechanical, power, data, and thermal interfaces, allowing the team to focus on the payload development. Riccardo highlighted the importance of the interdisciplinary nature of the team, especially for space science, including students from various fields such as physics, industrial engineering, aerospace engineering, and artificial intelligence.

The scientific objectives of the SPaRKLE project are to investigate gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), terrestrial gamma-ray flashes (TGFs), and the radiation environment around Earth. For instance, observations towards deep space could reveal insights into GRBs, high-energy astrophysical phenomena generated by supermassive black holes merging and neutron star collisions. On the other hand, observations towards Earth could shed light on TGFs, i.e., x-rays and gamma rays flashes caused by lightning-induced particle acceleration during thunderstorms. Moreover, SPaRKLE will investigate the particles trapped in the Earth's magnetosphere, particularly in the Van Allen belts.

The SPaRKLE detector is designed to be compact (about 10 x 10 x 10 cm) with a CubeSat geometry. It employs a combination of plastic and silicon scintillators, along with silicon photomultipliers, to detect charged particles. When a charged particle traverses through the detector, it ionizes the material, releasing energy that is converted into light by the scintillators. The silicon photomultipliers then detect this light and produce an electrical signal proportional to the energy deposited, allowing for particle identification based on the energy released. Additionally, SPaRKLE can detect photons by measuring the energy they deposit in the calorimeter. Photons interact electromagnetically, producing a measurable energy signal in the detector, which, when combined with timing data, enables the reconstruction of their arrival time and facilitates the study of various phenomena.

Currently, the SPaRKLE team is focusing on the feasibility of the project (phase A). It will soon begin the development of the CubeSat preliminary design, including all electronics needed for the readout. The next steps will be the characterization of silicon photomultipliers and the development of a preliminary model fo the SPaRKLE CubeSat for testing with a proton beam in Trento.

More on Riccardo's Research

Riccardo's Google Scholar → https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=WlcKVq0AAAAJ&hl=it
Riccardo's ResearchGate → https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Riccardo-Nicolaidis
SPaRKLE project → https://sparkle.unitn.it/

Preprint

Preprint

SPaRKLE onboard Space Rider: A student-lead project for particle detection in space