Liam Intemann, Astrophysics at LASP, Week 3

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After an eventful three-week break back home working, I have returned to resume my astrophysics internship with LASP at CU Boulder. Starting off, the first thing my mentor said was, “Let’s go light things on fire.” He and some other undergraduate students were working on an antenna for SPRITE (A CubeSat set to observe star formations) and realized a problem with the antenna’s deployment system. The problem was that a set of resistors slightly touched the antenna when it was retracted, which can cause many issues, such as short-circuiting, signal interference, or mechanical failure. A potential solution was to replace the existing resistor with a smaller one. However, this introduces a new issue where if the smaller resister cannot handle the power, it will fail and could lead to component burnout. We then tested various resistors, some of which smoked or caught on fire (Image 1), before concluding that none of the available resistors were suitable for what we needed. Afterward, we attended a meeting for SPRITE that overviewed its progress and current projects.

 

The following day started slowly; during that time, I was curious and researched green pea galaxies and exactly why they are SPRITE’s desired galaxy. Once my mentor arrived, we were instructed to switch a cable’s connecter to another type. This cable would be used to test SPRITE’s equipment, meaning this was our first significant involvement with SPRITE. To do this, we must remove each strand, test it with its corresponding number, and then insert it into its labeled socket. We began switching each wire from the previous connecter to the new one and eventually found a system that worked very well. Ultimately, we transferred the wires from a 50 socket to a 37 socket. We were done after testing and verifying that each wire was correctly inserted and output a voltage.

 

Outside the internship, I’ve enjoyed Boulder, its campus, the rec center, and a new climbing gym. Patrick and I’s host family is extremely friendly, and we have had fun watching soccer games with them. At 6 pm tonight, Argentina vs Columbia!

 

Overall, it’s been a great time back, and I look forward to next week.

 

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