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.

Marked as Failure in the NASA SmallSat/CubeSat Fleet Missions Database.