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Nick Solomey and his research collaborators recently earned a $2 million grant from NASA to study the sun鈥檚 neutrinos from low Earth orbit.
The grant project, 鈥淐ube-sat Space Flight Test of a Neutrino Detector,鈥� will allow Solomey鈥檚 team to investigate the sun鈥檚 neutrinos from low Earth orbit, something that has not been done previously.
Neutrinos are miniscule subatomic particles that are similar to electrons, but have no charge and almost negligible mass. Understanding neutrinos holds the keys to understanding the structure of the universe and the origin of mass. According to , neutrinos are the second most abundant fundamental particle in the universe, and the sun is the source of most of these neutrinos.
This is the third grant in successive phases that Solomey has procured from NASA for his quest to learn more about neutrinos. One of the key outcomes of the project will be the development and testing of a cube-sat, a kind of nanosatellite. It will carry and test the neutrino detector in low Earth orbit to prove the detector can operate in space and measure the rate of cosmic and gamma rays.
Neutrino detectors currently in use are positioned deep below the Earth鈥檚 surface.
鈥淭his new concept detector uses a double-delayed coincidence, so the detector does not need shielding,鈥� Solomey, professor of physics, said.
鈥淥ur detector is very risky because it鈥檚 never operated as a neutrino detector in space, let alone close to the sun.鈥�
The spacecraft of the eventual mission will allow scientists to study the sun鈥檚 neutrino emission and the galactic core neutrinos鈥� gravitational focus.
鈥淭he sun鈥檚 core determines what is going on at the surface of the sun right now,鈥� Solomey said. 鈥淣uclear fusion in the core is producing the energy that鈥檚 driving the sun, but it takes anywhere from 80,000-100,000 years for the energy, through convection, to reach the surface of the sun.
鈥淲hen it reaches the surface of the sun and then boils off, it makes light,鈥� Solomey said, 鈥渁nd of course, all the light that we get from the sun is what sustains us.鈥�
Solomey鈥檚 grant involves NASA scientists and particle physicists. Solomey鈥檚 team members include Atri Dutta, Hyuck Kwon, and Holger Meyer, all from 萝莉社 University; Mark Christl, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center; Brian M. Sutin, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory; Robert McTaggart, South Dakota State University; and Gregory Pawloski, University of Minnesota.