The electromagnetic interference and compatibility testing went well last
week. We finished Thursday, moved back to the Big Top cleanroom, and
performed the spacecraft functional last Friday. Here are two pictures from
the EMI chamber. On the left side of the left picture is one of
the antennas used to receive the radiated electromagnetic emissions from the
spacecraft. All of the harnessing is wrapped in aluminum foil for electrical
shielding. This view is of the -x side of the spacecraft. The deployed solar
array is visible on the left side (+y) side of the spacecraft. The
communications antenna which is on the end of the array is visible as a white
circle. The right photo is more toward the -y side of the spacecraft, so more
of the back of the -x solar array is visible. The one solar module on the
array which is white on the back is the concentrator experiment.
This week we moved to the vibration chamber. The first photo shows George
Mooney, Shirley Paul, and Gary Cooper just after the spacecraft was installed
for the x-axis vibration. There is a bag over the spacecraft to protect it
from airborne contaminates. The large gray object on the right is the shaker.
It drives the table on which the spacecraft is mounted. We shake the
spacecraft to simulate the rocket ride to orbit. The second photo shows Pete
Rossoni and Daniel Kaufman on the left and Giulio Rosanova on the right. This
view shows the +y side of the spacecraft with the arrays stowed. The third
photo shows the -y and +x side of the spacecraft. The shaker is visible to
the left. The fourth photo shows the spacecraft team eagerly awaiting the
signal from the vibration crew that it is time to power up the spacecraft.
Pictured are Taylor Hale, Tawanda Jacobs, Cindi Lewis, Shirley Paul, and
George Mooney. The fifth photo shows Suk Yoon and Giulo adjusting the solar
array--it rattled slightly during the shake. The red wires run from
accelerometers on the spacecraft to the facility test equipment. The
accelerometers measure the acceleration of different parts of the spacecraft
as it shakes. From that information we can determine where we have resonances
and how much stress various joints will experience. The last photo shows Gary
Cooper connecting the arming connectors just prior to the y-axis shake.
We are preparing for the z-axis shake today. The shaker has been turned, and the spacecraft is on top. Monday we will perform the separation shock test. We will bolt the Pegasus separation system to the spacecraft, then initiate the pyros which release the clamp band and separate the spacecraft from the launch vehicle.
The spacecraft functional is scheduled for Tuesday after we double-check our alignment between the star tracker, gyros, and sun sensor. Then we will start preparations for thermal vacuum including installation of the instrument thermal simulator and the flight battery.
Previous updates:
August 18, 1997
October 20, 1997
October 31, 1997
November 7, 1997
November 14, 1997
November 21, 1997
December 5, 1997
December 23, 1997
January 9, 1998
January 16, 1998
January 23, 1998
January 30, 1998
February 6, 1998
February 20, 1998
March 12, 1998
March 23, 1998