2nd Graders at it again with Project AGORA!

These second grade students at Academia Cotopaxi are now tracking a NOAA satellite, downloading live data and interpreting the weather images in their classroom... how's THAT for a weather forecast!

The internet-to-orbit connection was provided by the Ecuadorian Space Agency and instructions for connecting to and using this service in your own classroom can be found on the Project AGORA website.

Inertia

Last week, RAX was spun at 70 rpm to measure moments of inertia. This will be provided to the rocket launchers and will be used in our attitude determination and control system development.

Hermes Internet-to-Orbit Groundstation

These Ecuadorian second-grade students downloaded their own, live, NOAA satellite imagery direct from space via the EXA's Hermes Inernet-to-Orbit groundstation and with the support of Project AGORA. Sometime soon these kids will be tracking RAX with only a PC and an internet link! Check out the Hermes groundstation on YouTube.

Operational Attitude Determination

The Attitude Determination Board (ADB) and two peripheral sensor evaluation boards have been running smoothly and taking all manner of sensor data for two weeks. Attitude data comes from sensors on every face of the spacecraft as well as the board itself. Thanks to Sheryl Seagraves, Jason Anyalebechi, and Alex Sloboda for helping RAX achieve accurate knowledge of its pointing direction and rotational rates!

RAX Team at Orbital Sciences

Several members of the RAX team visited Orbital Sciences in Washington, DC recently to perform GPS testing with their GSS unit. Thanks to Dustin and Terrence for all of their help and Orbital Sciences for providing their support! RAX was able to completely characterize the prototype GPS units and understand various functions, check acquisition times and, most importantly, investigate failure modes of hardware, software and operations. We would not be able to complete our mission without the help Orbital Sciences gave us!

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!

Got Panels?

Oh the power we wish we had!!

FXB Nap

Alex Sloboda takes a nap in the FXB Building.

PIM Rev1 is here!

Finally, the first draft of the payload interface module is here! The PCBs from Advanced Circuits fab house have arrived as well as all the components. Ben will begin populating and testing this weekend.

Radio Testing

Nic testing our recently recieved radios.

Actel up and running

After slaying the license monster, Ben has the Actel FPGA up and running. We will be migrating our Altera-based prototype over to the new Actel system. Our payload interface module will be running an Actel FPGA.

RAX Caffination

It's official. Sleep is really just caffeine deprivation....

First photos of the payload!

Hasan, John, and team at SRI have sent out photos of their payload receiver stack. First revision boards are in house at SRI and testing has begun.

Welcome

Welcome to the latest news and information on RAX, the Radio Aurora eXplorer, a small satellite mission being built for the NSF by SRI, International and the University of Michigan to study space weather.