News Archive
November 30th, 2009 - 3:20 p.m. CST
Another communication pass was conducted with AggieSat2 on November 28th at 9:00 a.m. CST. Maximum elevation of the pass by AggieSat2 was 68 degrees. However, despite a good angle, only beacons were received from the satellite. Now that Thanksgiving holiday is over, additional passes will be taken by students over the following two weeks.
Our Mission Control page has been updated with a new list of Flight Controllers. Over the past two months more of our students have been trained and certified for flight controller positions required to communicate with AggieSat2. That list has been updated with all students who are currently certified.
November 23rd, 2009 - 11:40 a.m. CST
We apologize for our lack of updates regarding our organization or mission operations. Over the past several weeks our Lab has been transitioning from AggieSat2 towards development of a new satellite. Communication operations are still on-going with AggieSat2 as it continues to orbit earth. Our estimated life expectancy for the satellite is one to two months before re-entering earth's atmosphere. However, despite these operations, Lab emphasis has been redirected towards the development of the next satellite in the LONESTAR campaign. This satellite, to be named AggieSat4, will focus on the concepts revolving around Attitude Determination and Control. AggieSat4 began this fall semester, in August, and has a projected launch date around 2011 with NASA.
To help facilitate development of our new satellite, over a dozen new students were brought into our program. You can see our updated list of participating students on the Team page. If you would be interested in participating please use either our Contact form or Getting Involved form.
As for our on-going communication efforts with AggieSat2, our flight operations teams report that on the 22nd of November, two way contact was made over a ~2 minute period at 49 degree maximum elevation. A dropout in our communication link made sending the Set Clock and Set Next Window commands difficult. Therefore it took around a minute to start downloading DRAGON data. After DRAGON data stopped downloading, AggieSat2 continued to beacon for a while before we encountered a Loss of Signal. Our total amount of accumulated DRAGON data downloaded increased from 4.97% to 5.25%, or a total of approximately 8 KB of data acquired.
Further contacts were also made on November 19th and 20th for an additional 4 KB downloaded for a total of 12 KB through this successful weekend. Another pass is scheduled tonight, the 23rd, at 7:18 p.m. CST. Lab members are currently planning the pass schedule over Thanksgiving break that fits in with many team members' holiday schedules. AggieSat2 has been in orbit 116 days and is currently at an altitude of 166 nautical miles (308 km).
November 7th, 2009 - 12:50 p.m. CST
Preperations will be underway shortly for a communication pass scheduled for 5:31 p.m. this afternoon. This communication pass will focus on downloading further DRAGON data from our AggieSat2 satellite.
November 6th, 2009 - 2:35 p.m. CST
Two ground passes were taken on the night of the 5th and morning of the 6th (at 6:40 p.m. and 2:38 a.m. respectively). The first pass was a test of a concept for getting doppler shift capability out of our primary radios which have a complicated frequency hopping spread spectrum (FHSS) protocol onboard. The satellite was heard in shifted fashion but synchronization could not be maintained with the radios in this mode. No data was taken.
The second pass was performed with normal settings and resulted in a small amount of additional data downloaded. Satellite was in good health and working on a charge. The current accumulated DRAGON file size is now 117 kB.
There will be additional communications opportunities on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday.
October 26th, 2009 - 4:15 p.m. CDT
Students at AggieSat Lab are preparing for two communication passes with AggieSat2 in the next twenty-four hours. Each pass is dedicated to downloading further GPS data stored on-board the satellite. One pass is scheduled for tonight at 11:42 p.m. CDT. It's a high elevation pass at 89 degrees. However, due to weather conditions within the College Station area, management will continue to evaluate whether to abort the pass for tonight. Additionally, there is another pass scheduled for 7:41 a.m. CDT tomorrow morning. This second pass is a lower elevation at only 59 degrees.
October 24th, 2009 - 2:00 p.m. CDT
AggieSat Lab is currently participating in The Children's Museum of the Brazos Valley's 11th Annual Fall Festival taking place today. Multiple students from AggieSat are in attendance to entertain children and answer questions that both children and their parents might have about our organization or space in general.
October 21th, 2009 - 10:40 a.m. CDT
AggieSat Lab will be participating in The Children's Museum of the Brazos Valley's 11th Annual Fall Festival on October 24, 2009. Drop by and see the exciting events happening at AggieSat. We'll have several members of our lab in attendance to present our current AggieSat2 satellite prototype to kids and parents. In addition, students from AggieSat will be available for any questions kids might have about satellites, or parents might have about our organization.
October 20th, 2009 - 9:15 a.m. CDT
Last night, students were able to resume communications with AggieSat2 after almost a week of poor weather conditions and work out at the remote ground station. AggieSat2's health status was successfully polled and the satellite's on-board clock updated. Unfortunately students were not able to download additional GPS data as a result of poor reception from the satellite. Further attempts will be conducted later in the week as additional high elevation passes become available.
October 11th, 2009 - 8:28 p.m. CDT
The first data collected by the DRAGON payload began downloading at approximately 6:30 a.m. CDT on October 10th, 2009. This first 6000 bytes cover part of the initialization of the device which was started on September 4th to collect one orbit of data (~5400 seconds). While the data will require further downloads to complete and examination at Johnson Space Center to analyze, it is a wonderful start to mission specific operations. A new amplifier system for the ground station is also undergoing final assembly to expand our usable communications envelope despite complications caused by the failure separation at mission's start back in late July. Future ground passes will focus on raw data downloads using the new amplifier to piece together the first orbit's worth of DRAGON data. The ultimate mission goal is to retrieve two full orbits.
AggieSat2 has been alive and functional in the space environment for 73 days thus far.
September 14th, 2009 - 8:35 p.m. CDT
On September 26th, 2009, at 7:00 p.m. CDT, a presentation will be held by a member of AggieSat Lab at the Hudnall Planetarium, on Tyler Junior College campus, in Tyler, TX. This presentation is part of the planetarium's Public Astronomy Lecture Series which AggieSat Lab gave a presentation to over a year ago. Hudnall Planetarium is open to members of the general public with a small admission fee to support the Planetarium's on-going operations. If anyone, including groups, would like to attend and you live near Tyler, use these directions to attend our presentation at the Apache Rooms, located in the Rogers Student Center, on the Tyler Junior College campus. Our presentation should last about 45 minutes and will cover the opportunities AggieSat Lab provides undergraduate students for gaining expertise on engineering projects which test their knowledge and teach them new skills. Additionally a discussion of the effort which went into building and launching our satellite, AggieSat2, will be given. Finally, we'll cover all the experiences we've gained as a result of operating a satellite in space, the issues we've encountered, and how students with the help of Amateur Radio Operators overcame those difficulties. Following the lecture, there is a short Question and Answer session for members of the public to ask any questions they have about AggieSat Lab, its satellite, or opportunities for students and the general public to get involved.
If your organization would be interested in having members of AggieSat Lab give a presentation please contact us at contactus@aggiesat.org
September 14th, 2009 - 10:45 a.m. CDT
Our communication window opportunities over the weekend were scrubbed do to adverse weather in the Bryan/College Station area. Depending on weather forecasts for this week, further communication opportunities might also be scrubbed until weather conditions improve.
September 5th, 2009 - 5:10 p.m. CDT
Students have been working over this weekend to make preparations for our next attempt to download DRAGON data. These preparations include conducting mock communication passes using our Engineering Design Unit in the Lab. Operators who will be responsible for downloading data during an actual pass will conduct a full mock pass with the Engineering Design Unit uses the same set of procedures and time frames.
Tomorrow, we should be able to place video of our Client software in action. We've been able to record our ground station operators while they've used Client to conduct mission operations. We're hoping to start placing several of those videos on our website tomorrow and over the course of this week.
September 4th, 2009 - 6:30 a.m. CDT
Our 5:45 a.m. CDT communication pass was scrubbed about an hour ago. A thunder storm was traveling south from North Texas towards the Bryan/College Station area. Therefore our flight team made the decision to abort a communication attempt with AggieSat2. Another attempt will take place early next week.
September 3rd, 2009 - 10:15 p.m. CDT
AggieSat Lab can proudly say it's officially begun the process of completing objectives for the AggieSat2 mission. Ground station operators were able to command AggieSat2 to record DRAGON data during a 9:00 p.m. CDT communication pass today. This first round of recording was scheduled for ninety minutes beginning immediately after the satellite left the communication window. We're expecting to begin downloading data, recorded during those ninety minutes, during tomorrow's 5:45 a.m. CDT pass. To complete mission objectives, and therefore consider AggieSat2 a success, two ninety minute recording sessions must be downloaded to our ground station.
September 2nd, 2009 - 10:35 a.m. CDT
AggieSat Lab suspended operations over the weekend so students would have an opportunity to prepare for classes and get their living situations finalized. Operations began again on August 31st with an influx of student members who took off this previous summer. A communication pass was taken this morning around 6:46 a.m. CDT, our first in the past week. Ground operators were able to successfully poll the satellite's health, set its clock, set a new communication window for September 4th, and get an updated number of health records stored on the satellite (Which is currently over 9000). No updates will be sent over Twitter and Facebook until later this month due to internet reliability at the Riverside campus. We'll post a news update when we begin to using Twitter again.
August 26th, 2009 - 9:20 a.m. CDT
Preparations are underway out at Riverside campus for a 9:30 a.m. CDT communication pass with AggieSat2. Ground operators plan on utilizing this communication pass to download additional health records from the satellite for evaluation prior to beginning the recording of GPS data later in the week.
August 24th, 2009 - 1:20 p.m. CDT
Only beacons were received during our 10:27 a.m. CDT communication pass with AggieSat2. No two-way communications were established during the pass over. Further attempts will be made later in the week (Wednesday and Friday) to establish communications with our satellite and download further health data.
August 24th, 2009 - 10:15 a.m. CDT
Preparations are underway at our Riverside Campus ground station for a 54 degree maximum elevation pass with AggieSat2. This pass should occur at 10:27 a.m. CDT and provide us with at least health data from our satellite.
August 22nd, 2009 - 1:15 p.m. CDT
We updated our Mission Control page with the new two-line elements. Also, during our early morning pass on the 21st, we managed to poll AggieSat2's health multiple times. Those updates were sent automatically to Twitter and then Facebook. This will constitute the first known satellite to Tweet and update Facebook. Those status updates have been posted at the bottom right of our Mission Control page as well.
August 22nd, 2009 - 12:40 p.m. CDT
No communication passes will be conducted with AggieSat2 today. All passes are low passes and would therefore not provide an ample window for downloading data. Communication attempts with AggieSat2 will begin again on either Sunday or Monday.
August 21st, 2009 - 4:00 p.m. CDT
A satellite tracking gadget has been added to our Mission Control page so that anyone can have an immediate update as to the location of our satellite.
August 21st, 2009 - 12:10 p.m. CDT
During our 11:09:11 a.m. CDT communication pass with AggieSat2, our radios synchronized six times with a total of four beacons being received. Unfortunately we were unable to conduct two-way communications as hoped, but give the medium elevation of this pass, four beacons are exceptional. There will be additional medium to high elevation passes beginning early next week which we're hoping will provide an opportunity to download additional health records.
August 21st, 2009 - 9:40 a.m. CDT
Preparations are underway for our 11:09:11 a.m. CDT communication pass with AggieSat2. Team members will leave for Riverside Campus in a few minutes to begin setting up the ground station equipment for the pass.
August 21st, 2009 - 4:15 a.m. CDT
Our communication pass at 3:09 a.m. CDT was a success. We managed to accomplish all our goals including polling the satellites health, setting the satellites time, and setting the next communication window. Now our satellite will enter its standby mode, which turns off its radios and awaits until it arrives in the next communication window. Once that times arrives the radio will be powered on and the satellite will begin beaconing every five seconds.
Our next communication pass will be at 11:09:11 a.m. CDT today. Preparations will begin around 10:10 a.m. CDT for another medium elevation pass with the satellite.
August 20th, 2009 - 9:45 a.m. CDT
No communication passes will be conducted with AggieSat2 today. A maximum elevation of 27 degrees is available but, instead of attempting contact with our satellite, we'll spend today continuing our efforts to improve our ground station. There are two medium elevation passes tomorrow which we might take advantage of depending on our work today.
August 19th, 2009 - 3:40 p.m. CDT
AggieSat2's status was upgraded today to Operational by AMSAT. Our status update was a result of our successful poll health responses from AggieSat2 on Monday. While we're glad for the updated status by AMSAT, we're taking this time to continue our efforts to capitalize on our limited data capability so that we can begin operations which work towards mission success. You can check AMSAT's website for additional information regarding our satellite in addition to those of other organizations.
August 19th, 2009 - 2:00 p.m. CDT
Posted to the right is a screen capture of our ground support software, Client, during our communication pass this afternoon. As shown, we received a successful beacon indicating a 96% charge level during our scheduled communication window. However, no health data is displayed in the upper right corner of Client since we never received a response to our poll health request.
August 19th, 2009 - 1:20 p.m. CDT
Our communication pass at 12:10 p.m. CDT was a success, though ground crews were unable to conduct two-way communications with AggieSat2. However, we received twelve beacons from AggieSat2 which indicated a 97% charge on the batteries, before dropping to 96% after transmitting for a full minute. After today's earlier pass in which we set a communication window, AggieSat2 entered standby mode. Standby mode causes the satellite to keep both radios powered off until it reaches the next communication window. This allows for power to be conserved when the satellite is not over College Station. This afternoon AggieSat2 came into the schedule window, powered on it's Microhard radio, and entered a "Fast Beacon" mode , thereby transmitting a beacon every five minutes. Despite receiving those beacons, AggieSat2 did not respond to poll health requests nor were ground crews able to download any additional health records.
August 19th, 2009 - 12:50 p.m. CDT
Below is a table which explains several of the fields on the front panel of Client. Each field has its title listed with a short explanation of what that field indicates as to the satellite's health state.
| Title | Explaination |
|---|---|
| Battery | Celsius temperature of the battery pack inside AggieSat2. |
| EPS | Celsius temperature of our Electrical Power System electronics board inside AggieSat2. |
| Microhard (Downlink Radio) | Celsius temperature of our Microhard radio. This radio acts as both our uplink and downlink radio. |
| Maxtream | Celsius temperature of our Maxstream radio. Normally this radio acts as our uplink radio but we're not currently using it. Therefore it's powered off inside the satellite. |
| Current (Milliamps) | This value indicates the amperage going into (If positive) or out of (If negative) the batteries. |
| Accumulated Current (Milliamp Hours) | This value indicates the accumulated amperage going into (If positive) or out of (If negative) the batteries since AggieSat2 last restarted. |
| Charge Level | A percentage at which the battery is charged to. If an "Unknown" value is indicated then the batteries have not fully charged since the last reset. |
| Charge Status | Values are either "Charging...", "Not charging.", or "Unknown.". An "Unknown." value is only indicated when we've not received a charge status from the satellite. |
August 19th, 2009 - 11:50 a.m. CDT
Our screen capture of Client following our successful communication with AggieSat2 earlier this morning is post to the right. It shows the temperature values, battery current, and accumulated current as reported by our poll health response. Also, at the both center, you'll see a value listed in the "Next Comm" box. Our satellite indicated that it accepted the next communication window for this afternoon.
August 19th, 2009 - 11:25 a.m. CDT
Preparations are underway at Riverside Campus for a 12:10:18 p.m. CDT communication pass with AggieSat2. It has a maximum elevation of 69 degrees providing a great opportunity for further two-way communications with our satellite.
August 19th, 2009 - 5:40 a.m. CDT
Our 4:10 a.m. CDT communication pass with AggieSat2 was an incredible success. We were able to poll the current health of our satellite, set the satellite clock, upload a new communication window, and download 38 health records. A total of 5,493 records as of 4:10 a.m. CDT were saved on-board AggieSat2 though that number increase as we record a new health record every five minutes. Our poll health response was posted to Twitter and Facebook about an hour after the pass had concluded simply because we decided not to automate tweeting at this time. Our next communication window was set for 12:10 p.m. CDT this afternoon.
August 19th, 2009 - 2:40 a.m. CDT
Preperations are underway for a 4:10 a.m. CDT communication pass with AggieSat2. Flight members are gathering material and moving over to the Riverside campus.
August 18th, 2009 - 7:30 p.m. CDT
Members of AggieSat Lab gave a presentation to the Texas A&M Club of Pearland, TX on August 13th. Our presentation covered the build process of AggieSat2, current mission operations, and our plans for the next LONESTAR mission. If you would be interested in having members of AggieSat Lab give a presentation at your organization please contact us either through our form or by e-mailing contactus@aggiesat.org.
August 18th, 2009 - 4:10 p.m. CDT
Yesterday Texas A&M Foundation published a blog article called Out of this World which covers our current AggieSat2 project as well as an insight into our next mission planned for 2012.
August 18th, 2009 - 12:10 p.m. CDT
After yesterday's successful pass our lab members are making preparations for tomorrow's high elevation passes which should yield similar or better results than yesterday. To maximize those results we'll be streamlining our pass procedures to maximize the very limited amount of time we have during each pass. Also, we'll be spending the majority of today practicing those refined procedures using our Engineering Design Unit and flatsat at our Lab.
August 17th, 2009 - 6:15 p.m. CDT
All deployment pictures we've received from NASA, showing AggieSat2 and BEVO1 deploying from the Space Shuttle Endeavour, have been posted to Facebook. We'll look into posting those on our AggieSat2 project page in the next few days. Additionally, we'll start posting pictures of our mission control center and operations next week.
August 17th, 2009 - 6:10 p.m. CDT
Our Mission Control page has been updated with the latest two-line elements for AggieSat2. Additionally, we've posted the health data received from AggieSat2 during our pass earlier today. Only health data from one response has been posted, but we're planning on posting the other at a later time today.
August 17th, 2009 - 5:20 p.m. CDT
We've attached a picture of our ground support software, Client, to the right. Temperature values for each sub system within AggieSat2 are indicated a the top right of Client. As shown, the radios, electrical power system, and command and data handling system are all within single digit Celsius degrees. A positive value is show for the current which indicates that the batteries were charging at the time of polling the satellite health. Accumulated current is -3917 indicating the satellite just came out of eclipse. Lastly, the charge level for the batteries is unknown but the satellite does indicate that it's charging.
August 17th, 2009 - 2:50 p.m. CDT
Today at 1:11:59 p.m. CDT we received eight poll health responses including battery and temperature data from AggieSat2 during a 79 degree pass over College Station. The satellite, as expected, went temporarily into fast beacon mode (1/5 Hz). We synchronized the spacecraft clock but lost COMMs before we could send it the next exact communications window and get the cumulative health data since launch. Since the next window was not set, the spacecraft will re-enter its standby mode and patiently await our next opportunity to talk to it.
While the duration of usable COMMs is still short (under a minute) this is the first recorded instance of two way data communications between Earth and AggieSat2. This is a significant improvement over the individual beacons we had been receiving at first. The data recorded today gives local battery data and subsystem temperatures.
We will try to capitalize on this development in the near future and hope that it remains consistent or improved from here on out.
We'll post the health data later today, including a screen shot of our ground support software, Client.
August 16th, 2009 - 5:30 a.m. CDT
We had a communication pass with AggieSat2 at 4:52:08 a.m. CDT this morning. This pass had a maximum elevation of 31 degrees. During the pass we had six separate synchronizations between our ground station and satellite radios. Two of our synchronizations lead to ground operators receiving beacons from the satellite. To this date this has been our most successful pass with AggieSat2.
August 14th, 2009 - 6:45 p.m. CDT
Today we received a total of five synchronizations with three synchronizations leading to our ground crews receiving three beacons. No other data was received from AggieSat2.
August 12th, 2009 - 6:45 p.m. CDT
Our 2:47 p.m. CDT communication pass with AggieSat2 was also successful. Though the pass only had a maximum elevation of 47 degrees, our ground station radio synchronized four times with the satellite thereby allowing ground crews to receive three beacons. Further effort will be put towards analyzing reasons for AggieSat2 potentially not hearing our transmissions towards itself.
August 12th, 2009 - 2:30 p.m. CDT
Our flight team will be conducting another communication pass at 2:47 p.m. CDT with AggieSat2. It's a 47 degrees maximum elevation pass providing a good chance for receiving a beacon.
August 12th, 2009 - 1:30 p.m. CDT
This morning at 6:52 a.m. CDT four complete beacons were received from AggieSat2. Also, for the first time, the battery charge fuel gauge displayed on Client showed AggieSat2 with a 90% battery level after coming out of eclipse. This was the first time a beacon indicated a charge level on the batteries due to the team catching the beacons before 24 hour, no contact watchdog time reset. Our satellites watchdog timer causes the satellite to reset if it fails to receive communications from the ground. After resetting all information regarding it charge level is forgotten. By receiving the charge level we have a positive indication of a very healthy satellite 13 days into free flight. The team hopes that work on the ground or dynamics up in space will help AggieSat Lab get through the separation failure and finally reach into full communications with AggieSat2.
August 12th, 2009 - 11:20 a.m. CDT
Also on August 10th we conducted a pass around 3:30 p.m. CDT in which our flight team once again received two beacons, except that these beacons were received at 67 degrees maximum elevation. Therefore, it would seem communications with our satellite are becoming easier despite all the changes our ground station has undergone. Continued effort will be made to enhance our ground station receiving and transmitting capabilities while still making attempts to communicate with AggieSat2.
August 12th, 2009 - 11:00 a.m. CDT
On August 10th during our 7:48 a.m. CDT communication pass we were able to get two radio synchronizations and receive two full beacons from AggieSat2. Those beacons were received 40 seconds apart, indicating that we missed a beacon half way between them, and that we have at least a 40 second window at 87 degrees elevation which we're able to hear AggieSat2. This pass followed the complete reconfiguration of our ground station at Riverside Campus. We're now placing our radio beside our ground station antenna with only a few feet of coaxial cable. Additionally, our passes are conducted on laptops right beneath the tower rather than in our Lab. We've reduced most if not all RF loss within the system through this reconfiguration of our station. However, since we're still unable to establish long term communications with our satellite we'll continue to look into other ground station enhancements including amplifiers and low noise amplifiers.
August 5th, 2009 - 4:10 p.m. CDT
Additional pictures have just been released by NASA which show our satellite still attached to The University of Texas' BEVO1 satellite as they were deployed from the SSPL. To the right is an image, courtesy of NASA, of both satellites attached with the Space Shuttle Endeavour payload bay in the background. AggieSat2 is satellite closest to the launcher, on the right side of the picture. This picture was taken within seconds of deployment as both AggieSat2 and BEVO1 were ejected from the SSPL. Additional pictures will be posted to the AggieSat2 project page as we receive them from NASA. All pictures are compressed for viewing on the page, but by clicking on the image, a full resolution picture can be downloaded.
August 5th, 2009 - 12:00 p.m. CDT
Several pictures were released yesterday by NASA which show our satellite still attached to The University of Texas' BEVO1 satellite following deployment. To the right is an image, courtesy of NASA, of both satellites attached with the earth shown at the bottom. AggieSat2 is the top most satellite with only a small square of green showing through the center of each panel. This picture was taken within minutes of deployment as both AggieSat2 and BEVO1 floated away from the shuttle. Therefore, we're still uncertain as to the current configuration of both satellites following the departure of Endeavour. Additional pictures will be posted to the AggieSat2 project page as we receive them from NASA. All pictures are compressed for viewing on the page, but by clicking on the image, a full resolution picture can be downloaded.
August 4th, 2009 - 8:05 p.m. CDT
Pictures have been released by NASA which show our satellite still attached to The University of Texas' BEVO1 satellite following deployment. Both satellites were supposed to separate immediately following deployment from Space Shuttle Endeavour on Thursday. However, both satellites remained attached at least for the immediate time after deployment. We're not sure to the extent which both satellites have separated or what's current state of our radio antennas. Given our satellite's state, it could partially explain our poor reception at our ground station. However, we're not aware of our satellite's current situation, and we're confident in our ground station modifications which are underway tonight.
August 4th, 2009 - 4:16 p.m. CDT
Our short term option requires the elimination of all potential RF loss within our ground station system. This will be accomplished by running a shorter cable, only a few feet in length, between our antenna and radio. We'll be able to eliminate any loss in the 80 foot cable we're currently using. Additionally, we'll isolate the radio from surrounding computer equipment contained within the hub building used by other university entities and ourselves. Our final configuration will consist of a laptop running our Client software, connected over Ethernet to an Ethernet-to-Serial device, which then connects directly into our radio. Lastly, our radio will be housed in an enclosed container on the antenna tower, connected to that antenna by only a few feet of coaxial cable. Assembly of this configuration will be conducted tonight with a short system level integration test either today or tomorrow. We'll attempt to conduct a pass tomorrow using the new configuration.
August 4th, 2009 - 11:20 a.m. CDT
Graduate managers and undergraduate students held a Lab wide meeting earlier this morning around 8:30:00 a.m. CDT. Discussion focused on ways to mitigate RF interference and loss within our ground station at Riverside Campus. AggieSat2 has been reported by Amateur Radio Operators as transmitting a strong signal from Germany to Dallas, TX, and all the way to Japan. However, we've had difficulty establishing communications with our satellite except for two beacons we've received; one Thursday night and one Saturday morning. Students are spending today researching equipment and ground station modifications that could allow a reduction in RF interference and a boost in gain. Therefore no communication attempts will be made with AggieSat2 until tomorrow, at the earliest. Two options have been assembled for ground station modifications which can be conducted in hopes of boosting reception with AggieSat2. One option is a short term solution which will be implemented in hopes of contacting our satellite beginning tomorrow. Our second option is a long term plan to facilitate communications with AggieSat2 over the remainder of this year. However, assembly of our second option will take several weeks as parts are ordered and shipped to our Lab.
August 3rd, 2009 - 7:05 p.m. CDT
Our 6:22:12 p.m. CDT communication pass with AggieSat2 was unsuccessful. Mission Controllers did not receive any beacons from the satellite nor did the radios synchronized.
August 3rd, 2009 - 6:05 p.m. CDT
Preparations are underway for our 6:22:12 p.m. CDT communication pass with AggieSat2. We'll once again attempt to establish communications with AggieSat2.
August 3rd, 2009 - 1:10 p.m. CDT
Our communication pass at 10:22 a.m. CDT was unsuccessful. We were unable to establish communications with AggieSat2 but we were able to synchronize our satellite and ground station radios. Following the pass, graduate managers held a short conference meeting to determine the immediate future of mission operations. Until a final decision is made, students will focus their efforts on evaluating our ground station configuration for possible RF loss within the system.
August 3rd, 2009 - 10:50 a.m. CDT
AggieSat2 has been listed through AMSAT under the designation "AggieSat-2".
August 3rd, 2009 - 10:40 a.m. CDT
AggieSat2 has been listed through Heavens-Above under the designation "DRAGONSAT".
August 3rd, 2009 - 10:00 a.m. CDT
Preparations are underway for our 10:22 a.m. CDT communication pass with AggieSat2.
August 2nd, 2009 - 8:30 p.m. CDT
Our tests, which concluded three hours ago, provided inconclusive data. Signal strength data was collected from multiple ground based devices as a means of evaluating existing ground station equipment. However, preliminary data provides inconclusive results. Further analysis will be conducted tomorrow around noon time. Further more, no communication attempts were made with AggieSat2 today as a result of ongoing tests. Our Mission Control page will be updated with additional passes, for tomorrow, some time later tonight.
August 2nd, 2009 - 2:20 p.m. CDT
Students conducted a pass with AO-51, around 8:00 a.m. CDT this morning, to test our ground station antenna using a spectrum analyzer. We're in the process of evaluating our antenna configuration and checking for loss within the system. Later this afternoon, students will conduct an extensive test of our ground station antenna configuration using a spare radio used last week for flight team training. We'll then compare the power measurements from the spare radio, as received from several ground station devices, for performance evaluation.
August 1st, 2009 - 8:00 p.m. CDT
AggieSat2 passed overhead as expected with our students analyzing the signal using the spectrum analyzer. They're in the process of leaving Riverside Campus and returning to Mission Control. Upon their return a conference will be head to determine the state of our satellite and radios. However, their initial information indicates a strong signal being transmitted by AggieSat2.
August 1st, 2009 - 6:30 p.m. CDT
Preparations are currently underway to reconfigure our remote ground station to support testing of our satellite radio. A spectrum analyzer will be attached to our antenna out at Riverside Campus and a spectrum scan conducted while our satellite is passing overhead. AggieSat2 will pass over College Station around 2009/08/02 00:20:22 UTC or 7:20:22 CDT. From this analysis we can determine signal strength emanating from our flight radio. Utilizing this information we'll have a more complete picture of AggieSat2's current state of health while in space.
August 1st, 2009 - 11:40 a.m. CDT
AggieSat2 heard again! We were able to receive a single beacon during our communications window as AggieSat2 passed directly overhead. We were unable to send or receive any further communications between our mission control and AggieSat2. Our beacon indicates that the satellite has not yet achieved a full charge on the batteries. Our satellite indicates this state by reporting an unknown charge level on the battery pack. Preparations will begin around 5:00 p.m. CDT for a communication pass scheduled around 7:00 p.m. CDT tonight.
August 1st, 2009 - 10:45 a.m. CDT
Preparations are underway for our 11:20:40 a.m. CDT communication pass scheduled for today. A group of students are stationed at our remote ground station to analyze the signal transmitted by AggieSat2 using a spectrum analyzer. We'll take that information and compare it to what should be expected from our satellite and what amateur radio operators have been receiving. Given that information we'll be able to determine what signal strength we're receiving from AggieSat2 and back out the current state of our satellite.
July 31st, 2009 - 9:05 p.m. CDT
During our 8:37:01 p.m. CDT communication pass our satellite and ground station radios synchronized with one another, though only for a few seconds. During the pass we did not receive any beacons or data from our satellite. We'll attempt to establish communications during the 11:20:27 a.m. CDT communication pass scheduled for tomorrow.
July 31st, 2009 - 7:45 p.m. CDT
We did not receive any data from AggieSat2 during our 7:11:03 p.m. CDT communication window. We'll begin making preparations for the communication pass scheduled for 8:37:01 p.m. CDT.
July 31st, 2009 - 5:00 p.m. CDT
Students utilized a spectrum analyzer and our Engineering Design Unit to determine if we could validate information amateur ham radio operators have sent us over the past 24 hours. By operating our EDU in its On Orbit mode we can simulate the current state of our satellite in space. With this setup, a spectrum analyzer was able to receive a synchronization signal from the EDU radio consistent with data received by amateur operators. The synchronization signal is sent for a duration of five seconds at which point the radio is powered off for fifteen seconds. This repeats on a cycle of 1/20 Hz for as long as our satellite is in its current state.
July 31st, 2009 - 4:17 p.m. CDT
We're in the process of evaluating information submitted to us from multiple amateur radio operators who've received a signal from AggieSat2. If you have either received contact from AggieSat2 or have recorded data, we would love to know about it. Please contact us through contactus@aggiesat.org and one of our students will reply immediately.
July 31st, 2009 - 12:50 p.m. CDT
AggieSat2 passed through our communication window without our mission control receiving any data. We'll make another attempt to communicate with our satellite around 7:00 p.m. CDT tonight. Currently operations at our remote ground station have been suspended and our secondary flight team recalled as a storm approaches College Station, TX
July 31st, 2009 - 12:35 p.m. CDT
Preperations underway for our next communication pass at 12:37p.m. CDT.
July 30th, 2009 - 8:50 p.m. CDT
AggieSat2 heard!!! AggieSat Lab Mission Control successfully received a single beacon from AggieSat2 at 2009/07/31 1:23:16 UTC. This was our first long duration opportunity for communications with our AggieSat2 satellite. Further news will be posted later tonight.
July 30th, 2009 - 2:15 p.m. CDT
We were unable to communicate with AggieSat2 during its 1:55 p.m. CDT pass. Except for a lack of communications with the satellite, operations at mission control went flawlessly. Flight members breezed through procedures with little difficulty indicating the level of exceptional training students have undergone over the past two weeks.
July 30th, 2009 - 1:00 p.m. CDT
We've decided to attempt an extremely short communication pass to occur at 1:55 p.m. CDT. Maximum elevation for this pass is 5.8 degrees limiting the satellite to short window in which it'll appear above the horizon. Our ground station antenna tower has been raised by our flight team out at the remote ground station. Preperations are underway to attempt contact with AggieSat2.
July 30th, 2009 - 12:15 p.m. CDT
Our 12:18 p.m. CDT communication pass has been scrubbed due to lightning in the area of our remote ground station. Communications is scrubbed as our antenna tower is still in its lowered position. AggieSat2 will pass over College Station again at 8:18 p.m. CDT at which point we'll attempt communications again.
July 30th, 2009 - 11:45 a.m. CDT
Preparations are underway for our 12:18 p.m. CDT communication pass with AggieSat2. Max elevation for this pass is 68 degrees allowing for an extended communication window. A second flight team is standing by at our remote ground station to raise our antenna tower following an evaluation of weather conditions.
July 30th, 2009 - 11:37 a.m. CDT
As described in a previous post, students at AggieSat Lab had an opportunity to witness DRAGONSAT deployment from Endeavour's payload bay earlier this morning. Deployment was broadcasted live on NASA TV while AggieSat lab members watched from their mission control. Posted to the right is an image taken at mission control of the launch as shown on NASA TV. At the center of the image is a bright dot which represents the combination of The University of Texas's BEVO1 and our AggieSat2 satellite.
July 30th, 2009 - 10:05 a.m. CDT
After deployment, AggieSat Lab controllers began monitoring a thunder storm in the Bryan College Station area and have lowered the Ground Station antennas for safety. Controllers are confident that the storm will dissipate before afternoon communication passes become available. However, due to the weather, our 10:50 a.m. CDT communication attempt has been scrubbed.
July 30th, 2009 - 8:05 a.m. CDT
Deployment! Space Shuttle Endeavour deployed DRAGON satellites at 7:34:30 CDT from the shuttle's payload bay. Deployment was reported as a complete success by astronauts on-board Endeavour. Students at our mission control facility at the Munneryln building were elated to see both University of Texas's BEVO1 and Texas A&M's AggieSat2 satellites eject from the payload bay after three years of anticipate.
July 30th, 2009 - 7:05 a.m. CDT
Our team is standing by for deployment of AggieSat2 by the Space Shuttle Endeavour.
July 28th, 2009
AggieSat Lab ground station team members took a break from ground station training and practice to watch a beautiful triple pass of the Space Shuttle, Space Station, and Progress Supply vehicles over College Station. This photograph shows Endeavour carrying AggieSat2 and Bevo-1 over College Station on Tuesday the 28th of July at about 9:14 p.m. CDT. The International Space Station can also be seen just entering the image at the time the exposure ended. AggieSat Lab members took the opportunity to shout well wishes to the satellite and enjoy the sight of NASA's youngest Orbiter with Aggieland's first satellite in tow. The photograph was taken by lab member Michael Smith with a Nikon D60 at Riverside Ground Station on a 30 second exposure.
July 23rd, 2009
The final flight version of the Spacecraft Client interface software was released today with all the changed requested based on procedure and operations training. Operations teams will be conducting a final full system ground station test on Saturday and then will be repeating operations procedures to work up certification prior to AggieSat2's release from the Space Shuttle on Thursday.
July 20th, 2009
Happy 40th Anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon Landing and Moonwalk.
This week AggieSat Lab engineers Hutson Betts, Micaela Landivar, Sarah Atkinson, Chris Bertsch, Emeke Ede, John Graves, and Jennifer Turner are working hard to practice procedures for upcoming AggieSat2 flight operations. These students are putting the spacecraft client software through its paces and working out ergonomic changes to flight procedures through testing to tweak them for flight. All of these team members will be accumulating time practicing spacecraft operations to prepare themselves for AggieSat2 deployment. Also this week the final configuration of the ground station radios will be installed at Riverside Ground Station for final functional checkout (a training configuration for operating amateur satellites had been used up to this point).
July 18th, 2009
Astronauts Dave Wolf and Tim Kopra completed the first spacewalk of STS-127 while AggieSat2 sits patiently in the payload bay awaiting deployment on flight day 16. The Japanese Exposed Facility is now "onboard" the Space Station itself after today's walk.
July 17th, 2009
Space Shuttle Endeavour rendezvoused and docked with the International Space Station today.
July 16th, 2009
AggieSat2 is spending its first full day in space during the 40th anniversary of the launch of Apollo 11. Endeavour's crew is performing tile inspections to ensure a safe reentry at the end of the mission while it catches up to the International Space Station.
July 15th, 2009
After a near record of five scrubs AggieSat2 finally ascended to orbit onboard Endeavour at 5:03 p.m. central. Several AggieSat Lab students and our principal investigator, Dr. Helen Reed, were at NASA's Banana Creek viewing site for the launch, a mere 3 miles away. AggieSat Lab now joins an exclusive group of universities and private entities that are capable of their own satellite operations. Gig'em Aggies!!!
July 12th, 2009
NASA has again delayed the launch of Space Shuttle Endeavour due to weather near the launch pad today. They're beginning a 24-hour reset starting with the removal of fuel from the external fuel tank. Endeavour's launch has been rescheduled for July 13th, 2009, at 6:51 p.m. EST.
July 11th, 2009
NASA has delayed the launch of Space Shuttle Endeavour due to lightning strikes encountered at the launch pad yesterday. Engineers are currently reviewing all electronic systems on board the space shuttle to ensure no systems were affected. Endeavour's launch has been rescheduled for July 12th, 2009, at 7:13 p.m. EST.
June 17th, 2009
Once again NASA has scrubbed Endeavour's scheduled launch for 5:40 a.m. EST this morning. NASA's next launch opportunity to launch won't be until July 11th at 7:39 p.m. EST.
June 16th, 2009
AggieSat Lab's software development team has taken the initiative and integrated interactive features into our mission control network. Through these features, you'll have an opportunity to become a follower of Texas A&M's AggieSat2 throughout its mission this summer. One feature involves software incorporated into our ground support software, Client, which allows AggieSat2 to tweet using the on-line social network Twitter.com. Every time we receive a health status update or a confirmation from the satellite for a new communication window, our Client application will update the AggieSat2 twitter feed. Everyone following that feed will instantly receive a text message on their phone with the current health of our satellite. Also, AggieSat2 has a Facebook account which may be followed throughout the mission as we update its content, photos, and status. Additionally, the Facebook profile will be updated anytime AggieSat2 twitter feed is updated, thereby providing two options to remain updated instantaneously upon contact with our satellite.
June 15th, 2009
NASA has rescheduled Endeavour to launch on June 17th, at 5:40 a.m. EST.
June 13th, 2009
As stated above NASA scrubbed the space shuttle Endeavour launch scheduled for 7:17 a.m. EST this morning. Therefore our ejection from the space shuttle could potentially be pushed into July. Further information will become available Sunday afternoon.
June 9th, 2009
AggieSat2 satellite is currently residing inside the Space Shuttle Endeavour on launch pad 39A. NASA set their expected launch date for June 13th at 7:17 a.m. EST.
Last night, AggieSat Lab's Riverside ground station made its first satellite contact with the Amateur Satellite AO-51 at 6:31 p.m.. AO-51 operates on a similar frequency to AggieSat2 and similar output power. Despite difficulties from a low angle, extreme distance pass, AO-51 was received while passing over Panama, and tracked over the Eastern United States and Canada in the first integrated RF and tracking test of the new facility. Voice communications were received clearly with only 10 kHz of Doppler shift. In late June, when AggieSat2 is deployed from Endeavour, this station will be receiving flight telemetry and data.
To support communications during mission operations, AggieSat Lab will utilize an application called Client. Client is Aggiesat Lab's ground support software for sending commands to AggieSat2 and parsing responses. With Client, any Aggiesat Lab member can instantly begin communicating with our satellite, provided of course that it is within our communications window, and conduct several minutes of mission operations. With Client, a user can download data regarding the satellite's temperature, battery level, and various other health related information, as well as mission critical DRAGON GPS data. With the ability to set the satellite's communication windows as well as manage and maintain the radio communications, Client is not only a centerpiece for obtaining information, but also a crucial tool for maintaining the mission for as long as the satellite is in orbit.
For further questions regarding AggieSat2, its mission or our Lab, you're welcome to contact us at anytime. You may reach us through our online contact form, e-mail, or directly by phone. Our lab is open between 9:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m., though we could potentially respond to e-mails around the clock.
June 5th, 2009
Described next are updates on recent month's activities regarding the Space Shuttle Endeavour and AggieSat Lab. On May 26, 2009 students from AggieSat Lab raised the ground station tower out at Texas A&M's Riverside campus and established ground equipment in support of the upcoming mission. On May 31st, the Space Shuttle Endeavour, STS-127, was rolled out from launch pad 39B to pad 39A as part of its final launch preparations. Lastly, on June 3rd, Endeavour was given go for launch at Flight Readiness Review, for June 13th at 7:17 a.m. EST.
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.