ARISSat design review held

Members of the ARISSat team from AMSAT, NASA and Microchip held a Design Review in Orlando Monday and Tuesday February 15-16, 2010.

There were 23 presentations describing the operation, status and testing of the major areas of the satellite.
Many of the members used their holiday and vacation time to participate in a 12 hour session on Monday and 9 hour session on Tuesday before heading home.

The meeting was very successful in identifying areas that need additional work and definition. The major items to work on are the Max Power Point Tracker, the ICB (Interconnect Board), working on making a warmer environment for the battery, power management software and IHU software.

The prototype structure was on display and additional structures are being built. We have nearly all the flight electronics built and checked. The next challenges are developing test plans and coordinating with NASA for thermal, vacuum and vibrations tests.

We will not be able to deliver an operational and vetted satellite in March and are in discussion about a launch and EVA date later this year.

The presentations in PDF format will shortly be available on the arissat.org site under Design Review.

Gould Smith, WA4SXM

Amsat website