Click HERE for Flight Week Images and Video
RESCHEDULED FOR MAY 3rd - MAY 13th, 2006 BOTH FLIGHTS COMPLETED SUCCESSFULLY!
FLIGHT ONE -- Thursday, May 12th: Luther Richardson & Chris Spraggins
FLIGHT TWO -- Friday, May 13th: Gail Sinkule & Coy Kouba (NASA mentor)
Student members of the Columbus High School Space Program proposed an experiment to measure the tumble rate of a two pound pico-satellite. The idea came from reading the design reviews of a proposed satellite by students at Auburn University whose satellite will communicate with the ground effectively without any attitude control. During the reviews, a question came up about how much the spacecraft would spin once deployed. In fact, if the Auburn spacecraft did not spin very much, the purpose of the mission to test the spinning communication scheme would not be fulfilled. The high school students proposed to adjust the center of mass of the satellite and deploy it in the same way it would be done in space aboard the NASA Reduced Gravity plane. Data will be taken in the form of video data and analysis software developed at Glenn Research Center will be used to measure rates of rotation for each center of mass adjustment and configuration change.
In collaboration with:
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The newly machined AubieSat structure. Note the core that was cut away using Wire EDM. |
AubieSat Structure, Hallie in picture for scale |
RECENT PROGRESS
Cubesat models received from machine shop .. holes added to get total mass close to 1 kg (see images below)
Enclosure Structure Built (see images below)
P-pod arrived and tests completed -- data being analyzed
Research being done to put accelerometers or magnetometers in the cubes to measure attitude changes
CURRENT TIMELINE:
By July 8
Borrow P-Pod for 1 week to do ground testing of procedure and integration
Ground Testing and Integration Video Conference
By April 15
Update TEPD
Pack experiment apparatus and prepare for Shipping to JSC
Hotel and Travel Plans Finalized
End of April
Ship Experiment to Ellington Field, JSC
P-pod ship to Ellington
Test Readiness Review
Flight Week -- September 21 - September 30 POSTPONED
Flight Week -- May 3 - May 13
IMAGES
April 2006 Testing & Final Building
Video of Loading Cubes into P-pod
Video of Horizontal Deployment Testing
Images of Enclosure to hold P-pod and Cubes in Flight
DOCUMENTS
Original Proposal (pdf)
