Sister Sats M-Cubed (left) and RAX-2 (right) are going to be launched together as part of the ELaNa-3 mission on October 25, 2011Most notable is that the M-Cubed hardware has undergone random vibration testing twice now (two separate units). Once in May and once in June. Vibe testing is one of the requirements for the NASA ELaNa-3 mission that M-Cubed and RAX-2 will be launching on. We were really just getting our feet wet with the vibe test in May as very few people on the M-Cubed team had actually taken part in a vibe test before. Unfortunately, there were a few issues that arose from that testing, and some parts did not survive the fairly extreme qualification levels (24 G's RMS) that we subjected them to. This was what we were hoping for in a sense as we could identify the weak points in the system and then redesign them in time for the flight unit.
No sooner had we completed the May vibe when we hit the ground running for the Re-Vibe to verify we corrected the issues we identified during the first test. Considering that the whole satellite was essentially built from scratch (we re-ordered the Printed Circuit Boards, populated them, re-machined the structure and rails) turning that around in a month or so is very impressive. I'm very proud of my team for being able to pull that off. We still ran into some issues with the vibe table set up the second time around that delayed the complete testing, but our friends at CalPoly helped us troubleshoot it as they are the experts in Cubesat environmental testing.
The second round of vibration testing was performed on M-Cubed in mid-June at the Space Physics Research Lab (SPRL). It was definitely nerve-wracking seeing our hard work being put to the test up close. Luckily, all components of the satellite survived the test and furthermore we were able to verify a large number of requirements needed for ELaNa. This was probably one of the best days we've had on M-Cubed as we essentially verified all aspects of the satellite's design that we could at the time (camera, power system, command, and communications functionality).
Having successfully survived the vibe environment, the M-Cubed team got right back to business and right now we are building the M-Cubed flight unit! All the boards are being populated and the structure is almost fully machined, so we are really putting the pieces together right now. Combine this with the fact that many of the members on M-Cubed are working on RAX-2 which has the same delivery schedule and milestones, and you get a sense of what kind of time we're putting in.
Other Notes:
- NPPy the polar bear talks about the importance of monitoring the weather Much as the primary payload on M-Cubed's launch (NPP) is going to do.
- The M-Cubed website is being revamped. You can take a look at www.umcubed.org to get the latest status updates on what we're up to in the News section. We will still check in here from time to time, but we're really putting a lot of effort into this new site.
- We received an official FCC frequency allocation for M-Cubed uplink and downlink in the amateur UHF and VHF bands! M-Cubed even has a callsign now: WF2XSP!
- M-Cubed is looking to collaborate with any amateur radio operators interested in helping to track M-Cubed during mission operations. If you are interested, please contact dingostr@gmail.com and we will be happy to give you more information on the comms capabilities of our satellite and our communication protocols.
- Finally, as a fun side note, since M-Cubed is collecting images of the Earth from orbit, we have to receive a remote sensing license from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). This involves a lot of paperwork that is currently being reviewed by the Secretary of Commerce and the Pentagon!
-Michael
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