On May 3, a satellite prototype created at Wichita State was launched into low space orbit by NASA. On Aug. 4, when the first delivery of data came through, Dr. Nickolas Solomey, professor of mathematics, statistics and physics, and his entire team of faculty and students breathed a huge sigh of relief.
The CubeSat project, known as SNAPPY (Solar Neutrino Astro-Particle PhYsic) CubeSat, is a NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC)-funded collaboration. It aims to validate the feasibility of a larger detector positioned closer to the sun, where the neutrino flux from the fusion core is expected to be 1,000 times or higher than at Earth.
Solomey leads the interdisciplinary project, which also includes Dr. Holger Meyer, professor of physics, Dr. Atri Dutta, professor of aerospace engineering, and Dr. Hyuck Kwon, professor of electrical engineering. Thirty-six graduate and undergraduate students, to date, have worked on the project since its start in 2017.