XSAS Demonstration and TEDP

This week each of the three teams, payload, structures, and C&DH, completed their TEDP and have worked extensively to complete the demonstration which will be held today (Monday April 26th, 2010) in the S3FL lab in the SRB building at 7PM. In this demo, we will showcase a working XSAS free-float model, the release mechanism chassis, and a basic working C&DH system. For the payload (i.e. free-float), the latching mechanism will be shown. For the structure, a working release mechanism and rotation mechanism will be showcased. Finally for the C&DH system, data will be taken from inputs (strain gauge and accelerometer) and written to an SD card. Even though it is the middle of finals period, all the students have been working diligently and long hours to reach our goal for a working demonstration model. We hope to see many of you tonight at our demonstration so don't miss it!

Vivek Kumar
EPS & C&DH Team LEad

Semester's End and TEDP

Last Saturday we had our last Outreach event which was a major success. Thank you to all the students and people who helped make this a great program. With classes coming to an end and our TEDP, Test Equipment Data Package, just around the corner, we’ll be busier than ever before. Most of our prototype is built and the chassis, electronics, and payload groups are making their way to a final ground testing rig. Our biggest focus remains on the highly important report, TEDP, which tests if XSAS is ready to fly or not. Most of the report has already been completed, however, the entire report needs to be finalized and each section needs to be carefully revised.

The payload and structure teams now have a completely built prototype and troubleshooting we will be focused with troubleshooting over the coming days. We will be manufacturing more parts as well so that we can meet the demand of a flight unit and chassis for all of our different components. Once these are completed we can move to test XSAS as a whole. With everyone’s exams and final school year preparations happening this week and the next, we still somehow manage to make strong progress on our project.  From me and the entire XSAS team, we thank you for following our program and hope that you continue to follow us over the summer as we complete XSAS and head for microgravity testing. 

Kyle Hagen

Payload and Structures Sub-Team

More Outreach and XSAS developments

So we had our second to last outreach event for the middle schoolers this past Saturday, and it went successfully. Out of all the team members who came to volunteer, we split into two separate groups to handle two different activities. The first activity was modifying and continuing to test the rovers outside while the second activity was to work and finish the powerpoint presentations. For the presentations, the students will present to their parents, XSAS team members, faculty, and staff next Saturday to conclude the entire outreach series. They will present on the separate structures, electrical, and payload components in their rovers. I was in the group helping out with the presentations and I am happy to say that student groups finished their presentations successfully. It was awesome to see that the students retained what they learned and made powerpoint slides that summarized what they learned in our outreach events.

As for our team, we are continuing to finish and complete our prototype at the Wilson Center while others are working on the TEDP report (it outlines and details our entire project and we need to submit this to NASA). Personally for me, I have been actively working on my portion of the TEDP report, which are the scissor structure and the release overview sections under the payload section. Everybody is going to be very busy with work during these last few weeks of the semester, so we will be putting extra effort into everything we do.

Andrew Lee
Payload and Structures Team Member