Session
Science/Mission Payloads Research & Academia
Location
Salt Palace Convention Center, Salt Lake City, UT
Abstract
The SNAPPY CubeSat, which was launched May 3, 2026, will demonstrate and space qualify the νSol neutrino-detection technology. The NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program funded the νSol study to determine the scientific and technical challenges associated with a solar neutrino detector operating in close orbit around the Sun, such as a Parker Solar Probe–like orbit at 7 solar radii and potentially as close as 3 solar radii. This program began in 2017 and has continued with funding from NIAC and NASA’s Heliophysics Division. The νSol technology detects solar neutrinos using a gallium isotope which decays by emitting two particles spaced apart in time; this allows differentiating neutrino events from cosmic rays.
In the Phase II project review in 2021, concept and science were determined to be feasible; however, two precursor studies were recommended before pursuing a full mission study. These studies were to characterize the true deep-space background for the detector’s gallium double-pulse signal and to collect a statistically significant number of double-pulse events demonstrating that fast electronics can reliably select and analyze this signal. To test double-pulse signals in space, a NIAC Phase III funded building a 3U CubeSat carrying a 0.1-kg gallium-aluminum-gadolinium-garnet (GAGG) detector housed within an active veto array and shielding. Because the detector requires deep-space-like conditions, the CubeSat is designed for a polar low-Earth orbit at 450 km or higher altitude, collecting data over the Earth’s poles above the Van Allen belts.
The spacecraft is built on a NanoAvionics platform. The detector was developed by the Wichita State University Radiation Detector Laboratory, with custom readout electronics designed and built at MSFC. JPL oversaw the mechanical and thermal aspects of the detector and its electronics. The NanoAvionics procurement included the 3U frame, flight and payload computers, power system with rechargeable batteries and deployable solar panels, UHF and S-band transceivers, Sun sensors, GPS, and an avionics card using magnetorquers, as no camera-based pointing stability is required beyond solar panel orientation in a sun-synchronous orbit. We report on the design and construction of this CubeSat for solar neutrino detector background rate measurement.
Because the detector is highly sensitive, with roughly 7% energy resolution, active veto shielding, and passive shielding using a patented tungsten-powder and epoxy mixture that disintegrates upon atmospheric reentry, SNAPPY enables additional science during the extended mission phase of year two operations. These include measurements of solar wind particle density and energy spectra with particle identification of electrons, protons, and alpha particles; detection of very low-energy gamma rays from galactic gamma-ray bursts without directionality; and a collaboration with amateur radio citizen scientists studying correlations between radio disruptions and solar wind particle density, energy, and species in Earth’s upper atmosphere. We will report on these science studies as well as the main mission of the solar neutrino background rate measurement.
Document Type
Event
The Solar Neutrino and Astro-Particle PhYsics (SNAPPY) CubeSat Development
Salt Palace Convention Center, Salt Lake City, UT
The SNAPPY CubeSat, which was launched May 3, 2026, will demonstrate and space qualify the νSol neutrino-detection technology. The NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program funded the νSol study to determine the scientific and technical challenges associated with a solar neutrino detector operating in close orbit around the Sun, such as a Parker Solar Probe–like orbit at 7 solar radii and potentially as close as 3 solar radii. This program began in 2017 and has continued with funding from NIAC and NASA’s Heliophysics Division. The νSol technology detects solar neutrinos using a gallium isotope which decays by emitting two particles spaced apart in time; this allows differentiating neutrino events from cosmic rays.
In the Phase II project review in 2021, concept and science were determined to be feasible; however, two precursor studies were recommended before pursuing a full mission study. These studies were to characterize the true deep-space background for the detector’s gallium double-pulse signal and to collect a statistically significant number of double-pulse events demonstrating that fast electronics can reliably select and analyze this signal. To test double-pulse signals in space, a NIAC Phase III funded building a 3U CubeSat carrying a 0.1-kg gallium-aluminum-gadolinium-garnet (GAGG) detector housed within an active veto array and shielding. Because the detector requires deep-space-like conditions, the CubeSat is designed for a polar low-Earth orbit at 450 km or higher altitude, collecting data over the Earth’s poles above the Van Allen belts.
The spacecraft is built on a NanoAvionics platform. The detector was developed by the Wichita State University Radiation Detector Laboratory, with custom readout electronics designed and built at MSFC. JPL oversaw the mechanical and thermal aspects of the detector and its electronics. The NanoAvionics procurement included the 3U frame, flight and payload computers, power system with rechargeable batteries and deployable solar panels, UHF and S-band transceivers, Sun sensors, GPS, and an avionics card using magnetorquers, as no camera-based pointing stability is required beyond solar panel orientation in a sun-synchronous orbit. We report on the design and construction of this CubeSat for solar neutrino detector background rate measurement.
Because the detector is highly sensitive, with roughly 7% energy resolution, active veto shielding, and passive shielding using a patented tungsten-powder and epoxy mixture that disintegrates upon atmospheric reentry, SNAPPY enables additional science during the extended mission phase of year two operations. These include measurements of solar wind particle density and energy spectra with particle identification of electrons, protons, and alpha particles; detection of very low-energy gamma rays from galactic gamma-ray bursts without directionality; and a collaboration with amateur radio citizen scientists studying correlations between radio disruptions and solar wind particle density, energy, and species in Earth’s upper atmosphere. We will report on these science studies as well as the main mission of the solar neutrino background rate measurement.
