News Archive
January 10, 2009
Over the past week, members of AggieSat Lab have put forth great effort to assemble and test components of our Flight Unit by January 14th. As of today, Saturday, we've begun to assemble our Flight Unit in a flatsat configuration. Each subsystem is laid side-by-side and connected using their support cables. First we'll connect the EPS , battery pack, and C&DH subsystems together. Our software team will upload our flight software to C&DH, and we'll begin conducting functionality tests on each subsystem. Next we'll attached radios and our GPS unit and conduct further functionality tests for those components. Once all test have been completed each subsystem will be conformal coated and integrated with the flight structure. Final integration of our Flight Unit should take place around Tuesday afternoon.
December 15, 2008
We are undergoing final preparations prior to assembly of our flight unit. It's our intention to deliver a functional cube satellite, AggieSat2, by December 31. Delivery will be made to NASA for final flight tests and eventual integration with Space Shuttle Endeavour. Our flight components have arrived and are in storage until later this week when members of AggieSat Lab will begin assembly of the satellite's subsystems. Over the past week several undergraduate students have had the opportunity to practice their soldering technique on spare flight boards. These students will be responsible for assembling the boards for our flight unit beginning later this week. A combination of undergraduate and graduate students will be handling quality assurance for each component and functional tests will be conducted on our flight unit as each component is integrated. Once delivered to NASA, a vibration test and final functional test will be conducted to insure our flight unit will withstand launch aboard the Space Shuttle.
December 11, 2008
In preparation for our mission in May, our software team is continuing their development of our ground support software to expand its capabilities. Currently our software is limited to running on a single computer with one user having control over, and access to, our satellite and its data. We've been extending our software to support two build variations, a central server for data storage and a version that can run on multiple workstations with access to the central server. We'll posses the ability to allow multiple users to control a satellite and access data received from the satellite simultaneously. A summary of these future capabilities is listed below:
- Off-site data access
- Our ground support software supports two types of builds; a server and a workstation build. Our server handles all data manipulation and storage on a single accessible computer. Users can then use the workstation variant from any computer to access the data from any location as long as that location is within the same network; by a direct connection or VPN.
- Multiple users working on a single satellite
- Our workstation variant will also support the ability for multiple computers to connect to and access our central server simultaneously. There could be users at several computers, each with access to the same information, each with the ability to command our satellite and view any data returned.
- Controller/observer roles
- When users access the central server from their workstation, their workstation will be restricted to a particular level of control or access to that server. This will allow users to be assigned a role as either a controller or an observer. An observer will have the ability to view and export any data that has been sent or received from a satellite. Controllers will have the ability to issue commands to a satellite or affect the behavior of the ground support software across a group of users.
December 10, 2008
As part of our Responsive Space Mission initiative, we're developing software that can be reused for current and future satellite missions. Our primary focus within the software team is to continue developing our ground support software, titled Client, which supports flight hardware, and software testing, and our eventual mission in May. Primary benefits of our current software architecture include:
- Core service repository
- Software capabilities can be accessed through a central repository of services that are available to the entire software package. Each service, when loaded, registers with the core repository. Interaction between services and their users are facilitated by public interfaces that provide fixed capabilities over the lifetime of the service.
- Software components encapsulated within modules
- Each service or graphical interface is encapsulated with a software module. That module can be loaded programmatically with the modification of a single file. Graphical interfaces can be unloaded without concern for dependencies with other interfaces or with any services it depended on. Additionally, services can be loaded as long as there are no services, or graphical interfaces that are loaded and dependent.
- Modules built on MVC design pattern
- Though our Client software is built around the central service repository, each module is built on the MVC design pattern. With this pattern, we're able to separate business logic, our services, from the graphical representation of data received from our satellite. Data that is stored and manipulated by our services can then be reused by multiple graphical views or further manipulated by other services with limited additional coding.
December 09, 2008
Our three student lead teams, software, docking, and ground operations have concluded their objectives for the fall semester. Final documentation and presentations were given either the week prior to or the week of our Thanksgiving holiday. Both our Docking and Ground Operations teams presented their design concepts for their systems on November 21st to interested lab members and lab management. Design concepts, and parts lists, for ground operations will feed into purchases being made by our lab over the month of December. These purchases are being made in preparation for assembly and testing of ground support equipment during the spring semester by the ground operations team. Our Docking team finalized several concept designs for a reusable docking system for 3 to 100 kilogram satellites. After a review by lab management, a single concept will be chosen for further development. Further development will include CAD drawings, analysis, and budgets, all of which will be presented to lab members during mid spring. Our software team completed their objective to demonstrate in-house software that allows for multiple users to interact with a single satellite. Our EDU was used for the demonstration and was configured to communicate over its radio to a central ground station server. Software team members were then able to interact with the EDU from any workstation within our lab through our central server. Members from the software team will spend the next month stabilizing the software and removing software defects in preparation for rigorous testing prior to our mission in May.
December 08, 2008
On October 8th students from AggieSat Lab and UT meet with engineers down at Johnson Space Center to complete a fit check. NASA's fit check involves taking both Texas A&M's and UT's Engineering Design Units and placing them together inside a cube satellite launcher. The satellite launcher used, also known as a Space Shuttle Payload Launcher, has already flown in space and will hold both Texas A&M and UT's satellites during the STS-127 mission next year.
By conducting a fit check, internal walls within the launcher can be adjusted to insure a tight fit. Therefore, the satellites are not jostled within the launcher during takeoff of the Space Shuttle or during their eventual launch from the payload bay.
A month later, AggieSat Lab used its own SSPL, designed and built by students, to simulate the launch environment on an Engineering Design Unit. Several tests were conducted using structural mock-ups to verify the SSPL was working correctly. Finally, on November 15th, students from UT brought a mock-up of their PARADIGM satellite to our facility at the University Services Building to be integrated with our EDU and SSPL. Upon launch, both satellites were jettisoned from the SSPL, initially matted together prior to separating as a result of their antennae pushing each other apart. Each satellite antennae was spring loaded and depressed when both satellites were matted. After launching, each satellite antennae presses against the opposing satellite, causing both to separate from one another. 
From those tests, we were able determine what their final velocity would be as they move away from the Shuttle. We were also able to determine their change in velocity after separating from each other as a result of their antennae.
October 23, 2008
AggieSat Lab will be participating in The Children's Museum of the Brazos Valley's 10th Annual Fall Festival on October 25, 2008. We'll have several members of our lab in attendance to present our previous AggieSat1 satellite and our current AggieSat2 satellite prototype to kids and parents. We'll demonstrate how we test cube satellites launching apart from one another. In addition, students from AggieSat will be available for any questions kids might have about satellites, or parents might have about our organization.
Efforts at AggieSat Lab are currently focused on teams of students each concentrating on a portion of our Autonomous Rendezvous and Docking initiative. One group, our software team, is focusing on expanding the capabilities of our ground support software to handle multiple control operators interacting with a single satellite. This capability will allow multiple users to issue command to AggieSat2 and to observe telemetry as we downlink it. Another, our Ground Operations team, is developing the concepts for an automated ground system that will control our uplink and downlink antennas. Lastly, there is the Docking team that is developing concepts for a docking mechanism that can be used for future space missions by AggieSat Lab. Contained within the docking mechanism is the ability to transfer data, power and fluids between spacecrafts as well as provide structural support to hold the spacecrafts together.
September 12, 2008
AggieSat Lab is currently focused on two primary efforts, recruitment and finalizing our Flight and Ground Support software for the AggieSat2 mission. With fall semester underway we are recruiting new members into our lab and getting them involved in our various projects. Though our recruiting efforts our winding down for this semester, it's not too late to join. Use our Contact Us page if you're still interested in getting involved with AggieSat Lab. We'll respond to your request at our earliest opportunity.
Lastly, we're finalizing our Flight software, Flight-1.0-release, scheduled for release later next week. This release will be uploaded to our Flight Unit and provided to NASA in February. To support the AggieSat2 mission, we're completing the last few required features in our Client software. These last features will allow our Lab to meet the success criteria for our mission.
August 25, 2008
Our 24 hour test was unsuccessful and the expected reset did not occur. Another attempt will be made later this month once data returned from the satellite has been analyzed for possible software bugs.
Several tests from our health test procedure were conducted to confirm that downloading on-board health records is possible and that our on-board real-time clock is accurate. Our real-time clock allows a communication window to be set thereby causing the radios to be powered off until that time. It is therefore important that the satellite is able to maintain an accurate clock between communication windows. Our real-time clock was able to maintain an accuracy of 1 second over 6 hours which is well within acceptable limits.
August 21, 2008
Last week we were able to complete five of our six tests successfully with only minor adjustments to our test procedures. Those changes dealt with inconsistencies in test parameters that were discovered during testing. Our last test was canceled after issues developed in our code when attempting to run a shortened test to verify test procedures. Those issues were resolved earlier today and our 24 hour test is currently being conducted. Previously a 24 hour test was to be conducted to test our on-board real time clock. However that test procedure was modified so that the test would be shortened to 6 hours and a 24 hour test created to test a reset feature contained within our flight software. Once the 24 hour test is completed tomorrow afternoon we'll have only one last test to conduct. Our last test requires a functional test of our health manager prior to releasing our flight software for AggieSat2.
August 13, 2008 - 9:45am
After two days of testing, our Flight software has passed the first four test procedures. Now there only remains two prior to concluding our tests and releasing our Flight software. One test is a GPS recording and downlinking test which will be conducted this morning. The final test will be a satellite health test to verify our on-board health manager. The health manager test is split into two parts; a 24-hour real time clock test and a second test to record health data, charge the batteries properly and downlink data to our ground support software. Our 24-hour real time clock test is to insure our on-board clock can remain accurate over an extended period of time. This capability will be crucial when setting communication windows or GPS recording sessions.
August 10, 2008
Client Release Candidate 4 has begun this week and will continue through the 22nd of August. This should allow any remaining noteworthy additions to be completed and tested prior to school starting on the 25th. Our primary goals for this release candidate include the implementation of several outstanding satellite commands and a new context help system. Several commands have not been implemented in either our primary Client control panels or our command list. These commands have not been needed in past months as they are associated generally with testing. However, we are switching our testing procedures over to our Client so therefore those commands will need to be implemented.
Several of our graduate students have traveled to Utah for the Small Satellite Conference taking place the 11th through the 14th. There they will present our progress with AggieSat2, its mission and its future implications for AggieSat3 and our Lab. Presentation material used at the Small Satellite Conference will be posted on our website later this week.
August 8, 2008
We've retrieved pictures from a GPS test conducted two months ago on top of the North Campus Garage. NASA requires at least 4 satellites to be visible for their data to be valid. Therefore we sought the highest platform available which happen to be the North Campus Garage attached to our building. AggieSat Team members carefully carted our Engineering Design Unit up five flights of stairs to the top parking lot of the garage. A thirty minute recording session was performed while our EDU was nested in a cardboard box on the garage brick railing. After completing the recoding session we extracted our GPS data using an SD Card reader. Unfortunately we were not able to receive any GPS satellites during our recording session. Later discussions lead to a discovery of damage to our GPS antenna cable. Future tests will be conducted using a new GPS antenna in hopes of successfully recording data from multiple satellites.
Client, Release Candidate 3, has been released today as anticipated with all planned features implemented. Our Client software now has the ability to download GPS data from multiple recording sessions and to upload new flight software directly to our satellite. The flight software upload test was therefore conducted using Flight-1.0-rc6, currently under development, with complete success. Preliminary work has been made to implement an update tool, context help menu and a mock version of our Flight software for ground support training. Release Candidate 4 goals and expectations will be posted later this week after the software team has finalized Release Candidate 3.
In addition to Client, work on our flight software has been progressing on schedule with final release expected by late next week. Several issues were encountered yesterday while developing the Client including an error within the GPS manager. That issue along with an issue with beaconing were immediately corrected and tested prior to closing the issues out. Beginning early next week members of AggieSat Lab will begin putting our flight software through a software release process that tests software features for functionality.
August 6, 2008
Our Engineering Design Unit was fully assembled with several modifications required for radio tests. Only a single solar panel, on the patch antenna side, was attached to the satellite. Cables connecting the antennas to our on-board radios were disconnected, attached to cable extensions and left protruding from the satellite. Those cables would be used later by students from the Electrical Engineering Department to calculate the antenna resonance frequencies.
Yesterday's radio tests were originally planned to take place outdoors but were moved inside as a consequence of Hurricane Edouard. A ten foot ladder with a secure mount was used to grasp our EDU above ground level to diminish interference. We were able to successfully test our monopole antenna used for downlink communications and therefore determine its resonance frequency. Tests on our uplink patch antenna were unsuccessful owing to a likely faulty antenna cable. After removing the faulty cable, a replacement was fabricated and tested to assure continuity. A repeat of yesterday's test would be conducted using the new patch antenna cable and today's originally scheduled test using our ground support hardware would be postponed until next week.
A second test was conducted this afternoon using the new cable with our uplink patch antenna. Though the test was successful, two resonance frequencies were discovered. An initial discussion with a professor within the Electrical Engineering Department has lead to the conclusion that interference from our solar panel is causing the multiple resonance frequencies. Therefore AggieSat Lab members, over the next week, will look into possible solutions for isolating the patch antenna from interference caused by the solar panel. Further tests will then continue starting next Friday with a repeat test of the patch antenna followed by a test of our ground support hardware.
August 4, 2008
Radio tests have been delayed by a day and will therefore take place on Tuesday and Wednesday. This delay was caused by additional time needed to assemble solar panels for our Engineering Design Unit. At least two solar panels, four solar cells in a circular configuration, are essential to assure proper gain measurements.
Work has now begun on our new Content Management System, CMS-1.0-rc1, which will conclude sometime in October or November. Our CMS software will provide a framework for our website and allow for more interactive features. Those features will include a team blog system, photo and video galleries, and live data as we receive it from our satellite.
August 2, 2008
On July 27 Release Candidate 2 of our Client software, in support of AggieSat2, was released. Included with rc2 is a new graphical user interface designed and implemented to support a user friendly interface with our satellite. In addition to a new GUI, the capability to download GPS data was also implemented along with an event logging system for later data analysis. Already our Client software has performed admirably during tests with our Engineering Design Unit.
Work has now begone on Release Candidate 3 which will provide software upload capabilities for our satellite, correct bugs found during testing of rc2 and improve run-time performance. Expected release date for rc3 is August 8, just prior to Flight Unit assembly. In the past week we've managed to implement the capability to download Health Records recorded and stored by our on-board flight software and implement a log view to display historical health data retrieved from the satellite.
On Monday and Tuesday of this upcoming week, tests will be conducted by members of AggieSat Lab and students within the Electrical Engineering Department to qualify our flight radio capabilities. They'll be conducting tests to determine gain patterns and effective radiated power output for both our flight and ground communication systems.
July 13, 2008
Release Candidate 2, Client-1.0-rc2, of our Client software is scheduled for completion on July 27 and will support a new graphical user interface and underlying MVC software design. In addition, our Client will better support hardware testing and mock missions that will be conducted over the next month and a half. To build the user interface, Project Managers along with other AggieSat team members were brought onto the software team where daily meetings were conducted to hash out an interface specification. That specification was then implemented by those same individuals to gauge how useful the interface would be for each user. Finally, code implementation will be conducted over the next two weeks to add functionality to our actual graphical interface.
Additional furniture is being transferred from an Aerospace Department Lab to AggieSat Lab to provide additional room to work on AggieSat2 related tasks. In addition to having an area in which to eat, we'll have workstations to conduct hardware prototyping and server management. Therefore are Assembly Lab stations will become more available for hardware assembly and testing.
Officially our mission has been schedule for May 15, 2009, aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour, STS-127. Texas A&M University's and University of Texas' satellites will be contained within a Space Shuttle Picosat Launcher attached to the payload bay sidewall. Our mission is currently designated as DRAGONSAT or Dual RF Autonomous GPS On-Orbit Navigator Satellite. Our satellites will be launched from the SSPL after Endeavour has departed the international space station around the 27 of May. Times are subject to change but we will continue to update our website with the latest information as we receive it from NASA.
June 28, 2008
Our Engineering Design Unit has successfully completed several single say endurance tests. On Tuesday, our EDU was tested while in its On Ground mode using serial for communications. On Wednesday, we tested the EDU in its On Orbit mode using a single radio for both uplink and downlink communications. Further, multiple day, tests will be conducted by end of next week to determine if our Electrical Power System can handle continuous charging and discharging of the batteries.
Prior to beginning mock missions, our new Client program must be completed by the software team. This new Client will better support current hardware tests, and will eventually be used for our mission next year. It has already completed the first milestone by successfully communicating with our EDU by pinging it.
June 21, 2008
We successfully completed the Engineering Design Unit Wednesday afternoon, June 18. Though several delays were encountered, there were no major issues with any of our control boards. Upon attaching the radios and our GPS unit, each responded successfully to testing by members of our team. Our software team was also able to continue testing our flight software, version 1.0-rc5, to better handle battery charging in extreme conditions.
Space within AggieSat2 is very limited as shown by these pictures, however, our students did an excellent job during its design. During actual assembly a thermistor attached to a radio had to be moved to an opposite side to accommodate limited space available between the radio and shielding. Also a hysteresis rod was left out pending a minor modification of the AggieSat2 configuration.
Our next phase of testing includes 10-hour and, week long endurance tests on the EDU to determine if our satellite can handle a full, 90 day mission. These tests will be accomplished by leaving the satellite on, in its On Orbit mode, and simulating orbital operations including communication passes and GPS data collection. These tests should begin mid next week and will continue through July when we will begin assembling our flight unit for NASA.
June 15, 2008
We've begun assembly of our Engineering Test Unit with an expected completion date of either late Monday or early Tuesday. Though our initial estimate was by late Friday, several components took longer to assemble than expected. Work began with the assembly of C&DH and EPS together on the bottom face plate of our satellite structure. Both boards were connect together, with an additional cable connecting EPS to the Ground Support Breakout Box that connects to our ground station computer. During the initial programming of the on board processor, the satellite failed to communicate with our computer.It was determined to be an issue with pin selections made during earlier test phases. However, running our software in debug mode allowed for the C&DH and EPS boards to beacon as expected.
Currently, as of today, our Engineering Design Unit sits with an attached battery pack which will eventually be placed inside the satellite, and an inhibit switch which acts as an on/off switch. Continuing Monday, each component will be attached and tested separately to insure each works before closing our satellite structure.
June 10, 2008
We've moved our website from our old host over to our own internal web server aptly named Europa. By using our own server, we'll be capable of involving you, the visitor, with our ongoing projects on a more interactive basis. This includes our new section called Mission Control which will be updated with AggieSat2 launch information as we receive it from NASA. Also, during the AggieSat2 mission next year we will be capable of posting data on our website as we receive it from the satellite.
Last month we backed out of SHOT 2, allowing us to devote more resources to our AggieSat2 and AggieSat3 projects. Though we won't be able to conduct long distance radio tests, we're still able to test hardware and software in a near space environment.
Currently all work is progressing towards completion of our Engineering Test Unit by late Friday. Our software team is progressing through test procedures before releasing software version 1.0-rc4. Also, a new ground support breakout box is under construction that will allow for our satellite to be connected through an intermediate box to our ground station computer. This will allow for the faster switching between our ground serial connection and our on orbit radios without needing to remove or add cables during testing.
In addition to work on the Engineering Test Unit, the software team has begun working on our new client software that will manage ground station operations. This software is designed to be portable and scalable such that it will not only handle mission operations, but will also handle software testing and our AggieSat3 project.
April 28, 2008
AggieSat Lab's presentation by Hutson Betts at the Hudnall Planetarium went flawlessly. His speech lasted about 25 minutes and covered AggieSat2 and AggieSat3 missions. It also included a description of future scientific missions that could be conducted by NASA given the equipment AggieSat Lab will be utilizing.
April 21, 2008
AggieSat Lab has finally moved into our new location at the Munnerlyn building. For the next several days, students will focus on reestabishing the lab and unpacking all of our equipment brought over from our old location. Our new facility includes one central room, pictured right, that will contain our Team AggieSat computer equipment.
Also, our new facility contains five offices, one for the lab director, one for our software team leader, two for lab managers, and one for satellite design sessions. Also, we'll have an assembly lab, pictured left, for building satellite hardware, a conference room, and a storage room for our servers.
April 19, 2008
Today AggieSat Lab officially packed all equipment at our current location, the University Services Building, before our move to our new facilities. Starting early this morning, students arrived to assist in breaking down computers, furniture, and lab equipment including all hardware associated with AggieSat2. Our assembly lab, where all hardware prototyping and testing occurs, was completely packed except for equipment that is not required for our current projects. Any additional equipment that is not required at our new location will be left at the University Services Building as AggieSat Lab will continue to hold those rooms.
What was once our Team AggieSat room, as pictured on the far left with students present, has been packed and turned into temporary storage until Monday. Our new facility will contain an equivalent lab space where we will reestablish the Team AggieSat lab. Our new facilities will also contain space for a small server room where all servers used by the software team will be located for continued use by all our projects.
Beginning Monday morning, all packed material will be moved to our new location at the Munnerlyn (Astronomy and Space Sciences Engineering) Building. Students will then proceed to unpack and set up a new computer lab and hardware assembly lab. Work at AggieSat will proceed as scheduled beginning Tuesday morning with the continuation of AggieSat2 hardware and software testing.
By moving on campus, our new location will make trips by on-campus students, and students without vehicles more convenient. Also, students will be capable of working more effectively around their class schedules by eliminating the time required to travel between the campus and our current facilities.
Due to our change in location and facility, we will be unreachable by phone or fax at our current numbers. However, we're still reachable by email or web form at anytime during the week. Once we've been able to unpack we'll update our contact phone and fax numbers on our Contact Us page.
April 15, 2008
AggieSat Lab's balloon satellite team has finalized their parts. Parts that will be included within the satellite will consist of:
- Electrical Power System
- Command & Data Handling
- Downlink Radio
- Heaters
- Camera
April 5, 2008
AggieSat Lab's balloon satellite team meet today to discuss the SHOT workshop and to finalize their satellite design. Their SHOT mission objective is: The primary objective is to Provide a high altitude RF test of representative lab communications hardware in preparation for AggieSat�s 2 & 3. The goal is successful data transmission from maximum altitude of a scientific balloon and measure received signal strengths for a prototype flight COMM system using representative lab hardware and link configuration. This data will be used to confirm and improve link budgets. The secondary objective of this test is to expose supporting prototype hardware for AggieSat 2 and 3 to a near space environment.
For testing the Communications system, the radios that are currently scheduled to fly as part of AggieSat2 aboard Space Shuttle Endeavour and later on AggieSat3 will be utilized. Also, our prototype hardware, currently in its flatsat configuration and used previously for testing prior to construction of the Engineering Unit, will be used aboard the balloon satellite.
April 4, 2008
As part of the Nanosat 5 competition with the Air Force, AggieSat Lab will take part in the launching of a balloon satellite. During each summer of a Nanosat competition, participating universities send students to Boulder, Colorado to the University of Colorado to take part in the building and launching of a miniature satellite attached to a high altitude balloon. These miniature satellites demonstrate aspects of their nano-satellites scientific missions and capabilities. Several students from AggieSat Lab have been selected to represent Texas A&M, and will begin the process of designing a balloon satellite for this summer's SHOT workshop.
March 29, 2007
Our AggieSat2 Engineering Unit has been completed and will under go rigorous tests over the next several weeks. An Engineering Unit is a completed version of a satellite that represents what is expected to be contained within the flight version, but is not built to those same standards. An engineering unit allows students to throughly test each component of the satellite while its fully assembled. Such testing was conducted today by interfacing our ground control software with the satellite over their respective wireless radios. During todays test, data was successfully gathered from one of two ports on our NASA built GPS unit. Further tests will include battery charging from solar cells, health monitoring, and the ability to store and retrieve data from on board flash memory.
March 26, 2007
AggieSat Lab will be presenting at the Public Astronomy Lecture Series located at the Hudnall Planetarium in Tyler, Texas on April 26 at 7:00p.m. We'll post additional information about the Lecture, including topic information, later this week under Educational Programs.
Plans are underway to move over to new facilties at the Munnerlyn (Astronomy and Space Sciences Engineering) Building attached to north campus garage. This move will expand both our total working floor space as well as offer on-campus students a more convient location to work.
March 25, 2007
Brand new website has been completed and uploaded with a new look, expanded content, and an in-depth review of all AggieSat Lab projects. Our new website utilizes the latest in web standards to take advantage of emerging browser features and capabilities. We will continue to expand our website throughout the year as we add additional interactive features that will better involve all interested parties.
AggieSat2 has entered into the testing phase with student engineers focusing on testing how flight software interacts with prototype hardware. Upon successfull completion of these tests, construction of the final flight version of AggieSat2 will begin. Final delivery to NASA should take place in late July or early August. Upon delivery, NASA will begin its own tests in preperation for storage aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour, with an expect launch around mid spring 2009.
AggieSat Lab has successfully completed the Air Force's Critical Design Review on February 27th. This design review required members of AggieSat to stand before representatives from the Air Force and NASA and defend their portions of AggieSat3. CDR provides an opportunity for the Air Force to asses progress made by our Lab, and to review design decisions made by students. After CDR, student engineers will reiterate their designs and make changes suggested by the attending representatives. These changes include antenna design and reposition, software design simplification, and mission startup sequence.
Preparations are underway for AggieSat Lab to move to its new facility on the main Texas A&M University campus. Since AggieSat began in early 2005 we have been working at a Texas A&M facility a short distance from the campus across Highway 6. However, we have acquired room in a recently renovated two story building that served previously as the General Studies department offices'. AggieSat Lab will occupy half of the first floor, which will include offices, a server room and computer lab space. Also, our lab will retain our current space at the University Service Building, and will have access to new flight test facilities the Aerospace Department is currently building.