Engineering

Instruments I've designed and built for observational astrophysics: a portable, remote-capable imaging observatory and a balloon-borne cosmic-ray muon detector. Each project page covers the requirements, system architecture, testing, and what went wrong.

The red 6-inch Ritchey–Chrétien telescope on its tripod in a dry field at sunset, with the power system sitting under the tripod.

Jun 2025 – Present

Travel Remote Observatory

A self-powered, remote-capable 6″ Ritchey–Chrétien imaging system with a hypertuned mount, sub-arcsecond autoguiding, custom power and dew-control electronics, and a mini-PC network control system.

  • TheSkyX + TPoint
  • N.I.N.A.
  • PHD2
  • Windows RDP
  • WireGuard
The assembled muon detector, a stack of green PCBs with Arduino Nanos and BNC connectors on top of a tape-wrapped scintillator, seated in white foam spacers, with the blue microSD board.

2022 – 2024

High-Altitude Muon Detector

A coincidence scintillation muon detector adapted from the MIT CosmicWatch design, with a modified PCB, hand-assembled SMD electronics, custom logging firmware, and flight packaging, flown to 93,000 ft.

  • PCB modification
  • SMD soldering
  • Arduino (C++)
  • SiPM + plastic scintillator
  • Python analysis