WEEKLY HIGHLIGHTS FOR WEEK ENDING 31 October 1997:
STANFORD HIGHLIGHT
Under the direction of Dr. William Bencze, Dr. David Manner,
and Dr. Greg
Gutt the Gyroscope Suspension System (GSS) CDR
has been successfully
completed on 10/23/97. This represents
the last CDR of the payload
electronics. The GSS has made
significant progress since it has been chosen
as the
baseline GP-B suspension system in December 1996.
SPACE VEHICLE HIGHLIGHT
The Axial Lock automated test setup checkout is running in
building 251.
The axial lock redesign mechanisms will be tested in
building 251 using
this computer-controlled test bed. The system
autonomously cycles the
mechanisms at a constant rate and records
running torque and screw
position information for design evaluation
of each unit. The system
monitors torque, speed, rotation direction
and position to stop testing
if preset parameters are exceeded.
Initial thermal cycling and leak check of the Probe C flight fiber optic cables were completed this week. All three cables passed the post thermal cycling helium leak check with readings well under the 1x10-9 cc/sec requirement. All of the fiber optic qualification cable assembly work is finished and final thermal cycling sequence has been initiated.