Modern
Neptune is our newest satellite, and during its development, our goal was modularity, to allow for future upgrades and expansions.
Scalability and flexibility
The satellite is composed of 13 panels with identical geometry, which can be replaced at any time, ensuring easy assembly and allowing for future upgrades.
Muon flux determination
The satellite’s secondary mission is to determine the muon flux using a plastic scintillator and a silicon photomultiplier, which are detected with the help of a peak-holder circuit.
Live camera feed
A 5-megapixel camera was installed on the satellite, providing a live feed of the captured images and allowing remote control for high-quality photo capture, which can either be saved to an SD card or transmitted via radio.
Redunant system
The satellite’s primary mission is built redundantly. The primary mission is carried out with quadruple redundancy, and an additional four sensors can be remotely activated as cold spares in case any of the sensors fail.
Multichannel communication
The satellite communicates in the 868 MHz ISM frequency band using LoRa modulation, and it is also capable of communicating with the ground station via LTE mobile network, which can be useful during recovery operations.
Remote controllability
Power consumption sensors were installed on the satellite, and optionally, individual subsystems can be remotely turned on or off from the ground station in case of malfunctions or simply for energy-saving purposes.
Hello. I’m Neptune. 👋
Get to know the satellite’s structure.
Onboard computer and muon counter
The onboard computer is located in the upper block, where we also installed a display. It is capable of managing six power channels (power monitoring and remote control). Our muon counter is a high-performance, low-power module optimized for Neptune.
Primary mission
The middle block houses the sensors required for the primary mission and the inertial measurement unit (IMU), all of which are secured with multiple redundancies to ensure the mission’s success.
Camera and communication module
The lower block houses a 5-megapixel camera, whose images can be transmitted to the ground station via LTE (4G) mobile network using a dedicated high-performance processor, with the option to send other data as needed.
