WEEKLY HIGHLIGHTS FOR WEEK ENDING 5 September 1997:
STANFORD HIGHLIGHT
The SRE and TRE electronics for GTU-2 are currently mounted
and cable tests
have been successfully performed. All four
GTU-2 SQUID sensors did flux
lock correctly, a necessary
condition for full functionality. The SQUID
with the
shorted input has the lowest noise, while the other three
are
exhibiting low frequency noise levels that are consistent
with a large level
of flux trapped in the rotors.
High trapped flux in the rotors is to be
expected after
probe insertion and before flux flushing.
SPACE VEHICLE HIGHLIGHT
The second (and final) Relativity Mission Spacecraft Critical
Design
Review (CDR 2) was successfully held on 27 August.
The first Spacecraft
CDR (held in February, 1997) primarily
covered hardware funded earlier
in the program; CDR 2 covered,
hardware funded later in the program,
system-level design
and flight and ground software.
The cryopump was successfully fit checked into the flight probe. The pump's mounts lined up in all windows and lead wires were correctly positioned. All bonding operations on the probe thermal shoe assemblies have been completed. All probe vacuum shell machining has been completed, and the cylinder and dome are etched and at NASA/Ames for magnetic testing.