| dc.description.abstract | KUbeSat-1 is set to be the first CubeSat mission from Kansas; flown by students from the Physics and Astronomy and Aerospace Engineering departments. It has two physics payloads, Primary Cosmic Ray Detector (PCRD) and High-Altitude Calibration KUbeSat (HiCalK). This thesis work is on the physics of the KUbeSat-1 mission and its payloads. For PCRD an original detector design and data acquisition system have been in development. PCRD detector geometry is made to measure horizontally propagating particles in low earth orbit with an energy threshold of a few MeV of energy. A new parameter, radiation gain, is proposed as a method of quantifying Cherenkov and scintillation radiation in scintillators in order to differentiate particle species, and their energies, in small volume detectors. This method will make PCRD the first CubeSat payload to use pulse shape discrimination. Summarily, the PCRD payload aims to be a proof of concept for future high energy physics experiments done on CubeSats. A new antenna design, dubbed 'Bivaldi', is made for HiCalK. It features low pulse dispersion, 200-2000 MHz wide-band RF performance and 25-degree beam width, all within an 8x8x8 cm^3 satellite space. A piezoelectric pulser architecture is chosen for driving the antenna. In testing it is found that piezoelectricity can generate RF pulses in vacuum. A new piezoelectric model, employing ferroelectric dipole oscillations and dissipation via rotational Brownian motion is proposed to explain these observations. The stress response of a piezoelectric is tested in a simple, undergraduate accessible, experiment and recovers the standard piezoelectric linear relationship with voltage and stress. | |
