From Nov. 13 to 14, Christopher Barella (junior-aerospace engineering) and Brooks Miller (senior-aerospace engineering) visited the Air Force Research Laboratory in Albuquerque, N.M. to learn more about project design and safety.
Barella, a member of LionSat, said students from other universities involved in the University Nanosat-3 program also attended the workshop.
Miller is actually not a LionSat member, but is the project manager for Penn State's field-emission-get-away-special-investigation (FEGI), which is developing a program to go into the space shuttle, which will transport the satellite. He said he learned how to handle electronics correctly and to ground people and workspaces to avoid electrostatic discharge (ESD), which may fry electronics. Barella said he learned that electronics need to be stored in ESD-proof bags, which reduce discharge.
For safety, the team completes quality assurance by documenting the history of parts and materials.
"Everything that's put on the satellite has to have a heritage," said Sven Bilén, LionSat adviser and assistant professor of engineering design and electrical engineering.
Quality assurance allows the members to see which parts and materials are usable in flight.
"We can have something that works but not necessarily be allowed on the shuttle," said systems integration team leader Erika Mendoza (senior-aerospace engineering).
Some aspects of the satellite are coming along faster than others, such as the hybrid plasma probe, said Rob Siegel (graduate-electrical engineering). This instrument measures electron and ion density as well as electron temperature in the upper atmosphere. The communications system between LionSat and the ground is taking longer to develop because team members do not have much experience in this area, Siegel said.
Team members that are involved in thermal analysis are attempting to keep the temperature in the spacecraft stable while one part faces the sun and the other part lies in cold, deep, space.
"Outer space is a very extreme temperature environment," said deputy program manager Brendan Surrusco (graduate-electrical engineering).
Because the students don't know where all the parts will be placed on the satellite, "thermal analysis is taking forever," Siegel said. This task is so big that LionSat is "expanding to other campuses" such as Penn State Hazleton, he said.
The next big event for LionSat is the sub-system design review from Jan. 15 to 17 in Dulles, Va. There are 11 sub-systems in LionSat: power, structures, communications, thermal, scientific instruments, ground handling, propulsion, command and data handling, educational outreach, systems integration, and guidance, navigation and control.
All the universities are required to present their projects thus far, Surrusco said.
Anybody on the team is allowed to go to the review at which LionSat members will present its diagrams, he said. In addition to reviewing the status of LionSat, the panel of sponsors will "tell us if we are going in the right direction," Surrusco said.
Siegel said the panel would be able to see which universities are progressing faster with its design. He also said the sub-system design review is a good way "to see what other people are doing."
