WEEKLY HIGHLIGHTS FOR WEEK ENDING 29 JUNE 2001:
SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETED PAYLOAD LEVEL EMC TEST
The payload level checkout of the flight electronics continued during the past week. The EMC test with the GSS, ECU, TRE, and SRE was successfully
performed. Additional SRE tests (completion of the linearity test, the SQUID bracket ID test, and the SQUID temperature coefficient test), ECU
tests (heater and thermometer checkout), and TRE functionality were also performed.
Photo: Dr. Bill Bencze checking the GSS electronics hardware.
SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETED FIRST ATC CLOSED LOOP TEST
The GP-B team successfully completed the first ATC closed loop test on 6/20/01 with the flight control gyros. The Vehicle Environment Simulator
(VES) provided a closed loop system by integrating the thruster commands from the flight computer and sending simulated vehicle rates to the gyro
test port. The thruster commands were received by the simulator on the 1553 bus, and a precision current drive (VES Test Set) connected to the
workstation drove a test coil in the gyro to simulate the actual rates. The test ran for over 30 minutes and included simulated disturbances, thruster
misalignments and a roll rate of 0.3 rpm.
Photo: LM Engineers and Stanford alumni Jon Kirschenbaum, Phil Rittmuller, and Paul Dulgov with the flight control gyros in LM B/205 High Bay.