BHEX Mini
Ref Bari
Ref Bari
Physics MS, Brown
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Analysis of Binary Black Holes via Neural Networks (under Prof. Brendan Keith, Brown)
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Funded under NSF Neural DynAMO Grant
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“Nitrogen Outgassing from Water Worlds” (R.Bari et. al., under review, The Astrophysical Journal 2025)
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“Reflection from Relativistic Light Sails” (R. Bari, The Astronomical Journal 2024)
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“Simulating the Action Principle in Optics” (R. Bari, The Physics Teacher 2023)
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Spin Qubit CNN Researcher at the Meriles Condensed Matter Lab
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“A Path Integral Derivation of Hawking Radiation” (MS Thesis)
Binary Black Holes
Physics MS, Brown
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Analysis of Binary Black Holes via Neural Networks (Prof. Brendan Keith, Brown)
Binary Black Holes
Physics MS, Brown
Brown Space Engineering
Spaceflight Heritage
EQUiSat
SBUDNIC
PVDX
Black Holes: An Intro
BHEX
EHT
LIGO
Penrose
Ghez
Einstein
Schwarschild
Oppenheimer
Kerr
Hawking
Black Holes: An Intro
BHEX
EHT
LIGO
Penrose
Ghez
Einstein
Schwarschild
Oppenheimer
Kerr
Hawking
Black Holes: An Intro
G\propto T
(1915)
Albert Einstein
Black Holes: An Intro
(1916)
Karl Schwarschild
ds^2 = -(1-2M/r)dt^2+\\(1-2M/r)dr^2 +r^2 d\Omega^2
Black Holes: An Intro
(1939)
Robert Oppenheimer
Black Holes: An Intro
(1960)
Roy Kerr
Black Holes: An Intro
S\propto A
(1975)
Stephen Hawking
Black Holes: An Intro
(1998)
Andrea Ghez
Black Holes: An Intro
(2015)
LIGO Collaboration
Black Holes: An Intro
(2017)
Event Horizon Telescope (EHT)
Black Holes: An Intro
(2031)
Black Hole Explorer Satellite (BHEX) Mission
Black Holes: An Intro
BHEX
EHT
LIGO
Penrose
Ghez
Einstein
Schwarschild
Oppenheimer
Kerr
Hawking
Black Holes: An Intro
BHEX
EHT
LIGO
Penrose
Ghez
Einstein
Schwarschild
Oppenheimer
Kerr
Hawking
\text{Shepherd Doelman}
\text{Shepherd Doelman}
Imaging a Black Hole
Black Hole (M87)
Black Holes: An Intro
(2017)
Event Horizon Telescope (EHT)
Black Holes: An Intro
(2031)
Black Hole Explorer Satellite (BHEX) Mission
Imaging a Black Hole
(The black hole explorer: Motivation and vision, Johnson et. al., 2024)
Imaging a Black Hole
Imaging a Black Hole
Imaging a Black Hole
Imaging a Black Hole
Spaceflight Heritage
SBUDNIC
PVDX
- 1U CubeSat (1.3 kg, 10x10x10 cm)
- Payload: High-Power LED Array + LiFePO4 Batteries (<6 kg)
- ADCS: Passive Magnetic Atitude Control System
- Power Generated: 1.3W (Top+Bottom Panels) & .7W (Side)
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Total Cost: $5000
- All components built in-house at Brown Engineering Lab
EQUiSat
Spaceflight Heritage
SBUDNIC
PVDX
- 1U CubeSat (1.3 kg, 10x10x10 cm)
- Payload: High-Power LED Array + LiFePO4 Batteries (<6 kg)
- ADCS: Passive Magnetic Atitude Control System
- Power Generated: 1.3W (Top+Bottom Panels) & .7W (Side)
-
Total Cost: $5000
- All components built in-house at Brown Engineering Lab
EQUiSat
- 3U CubeSat (3 kg, 30x10x10 cm)
- Payload: Ham Radio Transceiver, 2 Cameras, Arduino Nano
- ADCS: Spring-Loaded + Aerodynamic Drag Sail
- Power Generated: 1.3W (Top+Bottom Panels) & .7W (Side)
-
Total Cost: $10,000
- 3D-Printed Components at BDW
Spaceflight Heritage
SBUDNIC
PVDX
- 1U CubeSat (1.3 kg, 10x10x10 cm)
- Payload: High-Power LED Array + LiFePO4 Batteries (<6 kg)
- ADCS: Passive Magnetic Atitude Control System
- Power Generated: 1.3W (Top+Bottom Panels) & .7W (Side)
-
Total Cost: $5000
- All components built in-house at Brown Engineering Lab
EQUiSat
- 3U CubeSat (3 kg, 30x10x10 cm)
- Payload: Ham Radio Transceiver, 2 Cameras, Arduino Nano
- ADCS: Spring-Loaded + Aerodynamic Drag Sail
- Power Generated: 1.3W (Top+Bottom Panels) & .7W (Side)
-
Total Cost: $10,000
- 3D-Printed Components at BDW
- 3U CubeSat (~6 kg, 30x10x10 cm)
- Payload: Perovskite Solar Panels + Robotic Arm + Digital Display
- ADCS: Magnetorquers
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Total Cost: ~$30,000
- 3D-Printed Components at BDW
- CUBECOM S-Band Transceiver ($10,000)
Spaceflight Heritage
SBUDNIC
PVDX
EQUiSat
BHEX Mini
\text{MEO} (25,000 \text{ km})
\text{LEO} (400 \text{ km})
BHEX Mini
Imaging a Black Hole
Imaging a Black Hole
Imaging a Black Hole
Imaging a Black Hole
Imaging a Black Hole
Imaging a Black Hole
Imaging a Black Hole
99%
chance of failure
Reasons to Hope
- Current proposal demonstrates ...
- A second satellite does increase the interferometric resolution
Reasons to Hope
- Current proposal demonstrates ...
- A second satellite does increase the interferometric resolution
- The minimum weight for a second satellite is ~ 200 kg
Reasons to Hope
- Current proposal demonstrates ...
- A second satellite does increase the interferometric resolution
- The minimum weight for a second satellite is ~ 200 kg
- BHEX Team will meet in June
Reasons to Hope
- Current proposal demonstrates ...
- A second satellite does increase the interferometric resolution
- The minimum weight for a second satellite is ~ 200 kg
- BHEX Team will meet in June
- Publish final BHEX Mini proposal on arXiv
Reasons to Hope
- Current proposal demonstrates ...
- A second satellite does increase the interferometric resolution
- The minimum weight for a second satellite is ~ 200 kg
- BHEX Team will meet in June
- Publish final BHEX Mini proposal on arXiv
- Creating an Ivy Space Coalition of interested partners in BHEX Mini
Reasons to Hope
- Current proposal demonstrates ...
- A second satellite does increase the interferometric resolution
- The minimum weight for a second satellite is ~ 200 kg
- BHEX Team will meet in June
- Publish final BHEX Mini proposal on arXiv
- Creating an Ivy Space Coalition of interested partners in BHEX Mini
Reasons to Hope
- Current proposal demonstrates ...
- A second satellite does increase the interferometric resolution
- The minimum weight for a second satellite is ~ 200 kg
- BHEX Team will meet in June
- Publish final BHEX Mini proposal on arXiv
- Creating an Ivy Space Coalition of interested partners in BHEX Mini
Reasons to Hope
- Current proposal demonstrates ...
- A second satellite does increase the interferometric resolution
- The minimum weight for a second satellite is ~ 200 kg
- BHEX Team will meet in June
- Publish final BHEX Mini proposal on arXiv
- Creating an Ivy Space Coalition of interested partners in BHEX Mini
- Collaborating with Ben Hudson from BHEX
Reasons to Hope
- Current proposal demonstrates ...
- A second satellite does increase the interferometric resolution
- The minimum weight for a second satellite is ~ 200 kg
- BHEX Team will meet in June
- Publish final BHEX Mini proposal on arXiv
- Creating an Ivy Space Coalition of interested partners in BHEX Mini
- Collaborating with Ben Hudson from BHEX
- Descoping: AGN + Space-Space VLBI
BHEX Mini Timeline
Thursdays (6 PM) + Sundays (1:30 PM)
2 Weeks: 4/15-4/30 | Literature Review
BHEX Mini Timeline
Thursdays (6 PM) + Sundays (1:30 PM)
2 weeks: 5/1-5/15 | Simulations
BHEX Mini Timeline
Thursdays (6 PM) + Sundays (1:30 PM)
2 weeks: 5/15-5/30 | Systems Design
BHEX Mini
Physics
Engineering
Imaging
BHEX Mini
Physics
Imaging
Engineering
BHEX Mini
Physics
Imaging
Engineering
BHEX Mini
Physics
Imaging
Engineering
Physics
Questions:
- What is the interferometric signature of the photon ring?
- What are the orbital constraints on BHEX Mini if it seeks to detect n = 1 photon ring?
- What is the geometry of a rotating black hole?
- What is the photon ring?
- Why is the photon ring "quantized" into subrings?
- What is the black hole shadow, and how is it different from the photon ring?
- What is the photon ring shape predicted by the Kerr Metric?
- How exactly can constrain a black hole's spin by detecting the photon ring?
- Can BHEX detect hawking radiation?
- What is the critical curve for a photon ring?
Physics
Physics
BHEX Mini
Physics
Imaging
Engineering
Engineering
Questions:
- How can we deploy a ~3m radio antenna from a CubeSat form factor?
- What cryogenics (ie., MEMs) are compatible with a CubeSat, and will maintain antenna at ~4.5 K?
- What are the mass + power requirements breakdown for BHEX & BHEX Mini?
- Total cost for BHEX Mini?
- How does interforemetric resolution scale with the diameter of the radio antenna?
- How would BHEX Mini connect with ground stations? How would it connect with the main BHEX satellite?
- What type of radio antenna would BHEX Mini have? (i.e., Phased Array, Standard, etc.)
- What is the temperature requirement for the antenna?
- How do you put a radio antenna on a CubeSat?
- What type of cyrocooler will maintain the antenna at the required temperature?
Engineering
Engineering
BHEX Mini
Physics
Imaging
Imaging
Questions:
- How will BHEX Mini interface with the main BHEX satellite and the Event Horizon Telescope?
- What is the simplest possible way to do VLBI on a CubeSat?
- How does Very-Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) work?
- aka How do multiple radio telescopes combine into a single large telescope?
- Why does going into space decrease the angular resolution?
- What configuration of BHEX + BHEX Mini would minimize the angular resolution?
Imaging
Engineering
BHEX Mini
Physics
Imaging
Literature Review (4/15-4/30)
Systems Design (5/15-5/30)
Simulations (5/1-5/15)
Literature Review (4/15-4/30)
Systems Design (5/15-5/30)
Simulations (5/1-5/15)
Rick Fleeter
Ben Hudson
Agenda
- Meeting with Jeffrey Olson (Lockheed Martin Cryocooler Engineer)
- Meeting with Lucas Anderson (Orion Space Systems Engineer, CubeSat Cryostat Engineer)
- Meeting with SEDS (National Chapters ➡️ Team)
- Simulate BHEX Mini + BHEX at LEO/MEO with Ben Hudon's SpaceVLBI
Agenda
Meeting with Jeffrey Olson (Lockheed Martin Cryocooler Engineer)
4 Core Challenges
VLBI on a CubeSat
Radio Antenna
Data Downlink
Cryocooler
Pointing Accuracy
Radio Antenna
Data Downlink
Cryocooler
Pointing Accuracy
Radio Antenna
Data Downlink
Cryocooler
Pointing Accuracy
ACCS: Active CryoCubeSat
~60 K
6U (6 kg)
Radio Antenna
Data Downlink
Cryocooler
Pointing Accuracy
ACCS: Active CryoCubeSat
~60 K
6U (6 kg)
MIT TBIRD
CubeSat
200 Gb/s
6U (6 kg)
Radio Antenna
Data Downlink
Cryocooler
Pointing Accuracy
ACCS: Active CryoCubeSat
~60 K
6U (6 kg)
MIT TBIRD
CubeSat
200 Gb/s
6U (6 kg)
PVDX
~1° pointing
jitter tolerance
Literature Review (4/15-4/30)
Systems Design (5/15-5/30)
Simulations (5/1-5/15)
Rick Fleeter
Ben Hudson
Preliminary Simulations of BHEX (0 Degree Inclination)
Preliminary Simulations of BHEX (20 Degree Inclination)
Preliminary Simulations of BHEX (40 Degree Inclination)
Preliminary Simulations of BHEX (60 Degree Inclination)
Preliminary Simulations of BHEX (80 Degree Inclination)
Radio Antenna
Data Downlink
Cryocooler
Pointing Accuracy
ACCS: Active CryoCubeSat
~60 K
6U (6 kg)
MIT TBIRD
CubeSat
200 Gb/s
6U (6 kg)
PVDX
~1° pointing
jitter tolerance
BHEX Mini | Cryocooler Talk
By Ref Bari
