Publication date: 
2023/06/14
SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket carried the HardPix radiation detector, developed by the Institute of Technical and Experimental Physics of Czech Technical University and manufactured by BD Sensors, into space on 12 June at 23:35 CET. HardPix will thus join the SATRAM detector, which has been operating successfully in Earth orbit for more than 10 years and on which the CTU Institute of Physics and Astronomy also collaborated with BD Sensors.

HardPix would be launched aboard the Italian company D-Orbit's ION satellite as part of the 'Enhanced Radiation Measurements for Space and Aviation' project, led by the UK government agency Science and Technology Facilities Council, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (STFC RAL Space) and part of the government's Space Weather Innovation, Measurement, Modelling and Risk (SWIMMR) space weather monitoring programme at UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).

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HardPix is a next-generation miniature radiation spectrometer equipped with a Timepix3 sensor and a modular design that allows it to be used on a variety of missions with minimal modifications. HardPix detectors are planned for future missions to the ISS, Lunar Gateway, Cassini and are also being considered as detectors for the search for water on the Moon. More advanced versions are already in the pipeline, which will be equipped with two Timepix3 sensors and on-orbit data processing. Their development is being carried out under an ESA-funded programme in collaboration with BD Sensors, and a project with Huld to process the measured data on orbit using neural networks and artificial intelligence is in the pipeline.

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Sources: https://www.dorbit.space/press