News Events
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.