As I approach the end of my internship, I have had a very eventful week. Week 5 was a hectic week consisting of more of my project, meetings and lessons involving astrophysics and current updates on SPRITE, testing the deployment for the satellite antenna, the first major assembly of the CubeSat, and outside of the internship, a Stick Figure concert at Red Rocks.
On Monday, I continued to work on my project and am almost done with it. Closer to lunch, the other interns and I were taken to a meeting room to go further in-depth about data use and plotting. This meeting overviewed the importance of graphing and data representation at a general level, which is applicable across all fields of research. Our mentor emphasized that when publishing work such as research papers, it is crucial to ensure that the graphical representations of the data are clear and accurate to ensure that other scientists can understand and trust the data, keeping the credibility of the research. After lunch, I switched tasks to further help with the antenna deployment system. This system surprised me because you would think that such an advanced satellite would have a complicated deployment system. Still, instead, they opted for using the heat of a resistor to burn the heavy fishing line that holds the antenna. When this happens, the antenna will be released. The problem was that the resistor in the original design made contact with the antenna, which could not happen. I helped with soldering the relocated resistor, enabling the antenna to rest properly in its slot without making contact with the resistor. (Image one and two)
The next few days involved the setup for testing this system in a vacuum environment, temperature controlled, including hot and cold. I learned how to set up the vacuum chamber that sucks out all oxygen to simulate a space environment. After running multiple tests, the system worked but not within the desired time, so I am sure I’ll need to continue to help with its deployment. Friday was a very eventful day involving the first major assembly of SPRITE. This meant entering the cleanroom, a completely sterile room where contamination is minimized to protect sensitive components. The focus of this test was assembling the “brain” of SPRITE to the chassis to simulate the tests. This was a big deal, being the first time that SPRITE, which at my time of arrival was spread all around the lab and barely put together, was being assembled. Ultimately, this was probably one of the best weeks I have had at LASP, and I am excited to see where it goes during my final week.
Outside of LASP, I have continued to climb with my cousin and have enjoyed CU Boulder’s gym. Thursday night, Patrick, a fellow intern, and I went to see Stick Figure at Red Rocks, which was great. I can’t believe the internship’s almost over, but I am happy to say I have had a great time.
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