Q-PACE (QPACE, Cu-PACE, CubeSat Particle Aggregation and Collision Experiment)

Producing tens of thousands of collisions simulating the first steps in planet formation.

Perform a long-duration microgravity experiments in orbit to observe novel low-speed collisions in greater numbers than possible in ground-based, parabolic and suborbital flight experiments. Perform over 100 collision experiments producing 10’s of thousands of collisions simulating the first steps in planet formation.

Q-PACE consists of a particle chamber that is shaken to induce low-speed collisions between the particles that cannot be achieved in Earth’s gravity. The collisional evolution of the swarm of particles is captured by a high-speed video camera. The video data is transmitted to the ground station for analysis to measure the outcomes of collisions based on impact speed and particle type.