Trials and tribulations of the project manager

After the kick-off for Student Team 3 on 21 January 2016 activity for me has been somewhat hectic. Here are some glimpses of what has been going on:

• We have been able to get the Solid Edge CAD software for three computers in the library at the Space and Plasma Physics Group. The CAD team will need them.
• We have finally submitted the ” option sheets” for the procured subsystems (except the antenna) sent to I.S.I.S, the supplier of subsystems. These documents describe precisely how the procured subsystems shall be configured. The delay in getting these documents submitted was caused by a need to rearrange the subsystems inside the structure and to determine exactly which ”stack connectors” to use. Agnes visited I.S.I.S in Delft on 25 January to hammer out the details.
• The picture below shows the final subsystem “stack”. At the bottom are the magnetic torquers (iMTQ) for attitude control. Above them is the battery back BP4 followed by the power reulation and distribution unit, P31us. Above that is the on-board computer iOBC followed by the radio transceiver TRXVU. IGIS at the very top is an interface board for connecting other units and for connection to the stack from the outside.

• The process to get radio frequencies and a permit to use them for MIST has started. It will be a long haul, but hopefully we shall get the exact frequencies within a few months, so that we can order the radio system and get the antenna delivered. The radio amateur satellite organization in Sweden, AMSAT-SM is very helpful.
• Thermal and material data for the solar panels received from ISIS. This is useful for the thermal and antenna pattern analysis.
• Shreyas Chandrashekar from Team 2 will re-join the MIST project. He will do his M.Sc. thesis by making a new thermal analysis with the new satellite configuration and new requirements. Andreas Berggren from Team 1 will be his supervisor via Skype and by personal visits to Stockholm from his present home base in the UK where he works with thermal analysis for Surrey Satellite Ltd. We will switch from Siemens NX to Thermica as the analysis tool. As you can imagine it took me some effort to sort out the administrative questions around this, but the administrators of the Physics department were extremely helpful.

Sven Grahn