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The ZQube System by Twiggs Space Lab
ZQubes were designed specifically to provide Space for Teachers with a powerful yet simple base kit of hardware to perform a wide variety of experiments across all disciplines. The platform is inexpensive, can be used in class and on a parabolic aircraft, and can carry out sensor measurements and take video of microgravity phenomena in a sample chamber.
Professor Bob Twiggs, co-inventor of the CubeSat platform, develops the ZQube (ZQ) through Twiggs Space Labs. TSL partners with the ETP to provide teachers with the hardware and training they need to make use of this platform in and out of the classroom.
Use Basics
The ZQ is a palm-sized laboratory that can be used for sensor data acquisition, basic kinematics and dynamics, and observations of fluids and granular materials in microgravity. The applications are limited only by student creativity.
The ZQ system is ready to go, with no soldering or coding required for the basic unit. Data and video are stored on a microSD, downloaded after the parabolic flight, shared out to participating classrooms. ZQube training is included at the ETP workshop and at the NASA STEM Enhancement of Earth Science (SEES) Summer Internship Program, with assistance from ETP mentors as needed. Data storage and workshop activities will require a laptop or tablet computer.
The ZQube system is a hands-free carry-on containing 12 separate microgravity experiments from classrooms anywhere on the globe, with unlimited data sharing potential, and at little to no cost.
ZQ Hardware
The base ZQ is a 45 x 45 x 45 mm stack with the following components
- Core Board
- Data Logger
- Payload Board (for project sensors and wiring)
- Camera
- Li-Ion battery
- Frame with USB and power switch
For experiments that require video/photo data, the ZQ chassis (45 x 45 x 95-mm) consists of the the base ZQube stack, an LED light, and a transparent, 3.5 cc sample chamber for containment of small volumes of liquids, gels, powders, or other materials.
For flights with multiple ZQ projects on board, the individual experiments can be safely packaged and simultaneously activated within the Z-frame, a packaging form-factor the size of a 3U CubeSat container. Each Z-frame can hold twelve ZQube experiments in a single, 3U compartment.