Solar Cells!

Solar Cells and Solar Panels meet for the first time! Fernando's laying out the cells in the new clean room for the RAX spacecraft. Full panels will be assembled in the next few days.

Thermal Sims

Fernando Saca is making progress on thermal simulations for the RAX system. We have several "hot spots", the computers, payloads, and radios. Fernando is modeling the thermal environment to assess thermal performance. Our thermal test chambers are being upgraded to support environmental testing in August.

Air Bearing!

Our air bearing under construction in the Wilson Student Project Center... Go ADCS! A few of our members are finishing up for the summer after extraordinary efforts. Thanks to Sheryl, Ladante, Jeff and Carlos for all their help!

17 seconds

That's the boot time for our Linux processor on RAX. Eric W. is still working to get it faster. We wish our desktops booted that fast!

PIM and IDPU up and running!

Eric and Ben have done some amazing work to get the payload interface module (PIM) and the instrument data processing unit (IDPU) up and running. The photo to the left below shows our prototype IDPU and PIM modules and a payload simulator taking and storing data. Ben has worked hard to overcome several timing issues with the FPGA on the PIM. Eric's IDPU board arrived this week and is currently undergoing board stuffing and system testing. You can see the processor evaluation board in the top right. It is much too large for a Cubesat. Eric condensed the necessary components into the small Cubesat-compatible board. Great job Ben and Eric!