Tuesday, November 20, 2012

EAR

So yesterday we had our EAR (Experiment Acceptance Review) and we welcomed Mikael Inga and Alex Kinnaird back to Kiruna! We started off by presenting the updated and improved parts since the IPR and also our last steps before we can send the experiment to Germany for testing. After that we had a demonstration of the actual experiment where we melted six samples and explained the course of events during the flight. We were very happy with both the presentation and demonstration and we hope Mikael and Alex felt the same way :)

Whats left to do for the team right now is to improve every last detail and solve the last minor issues. We will also focus on writing detailed checklists for launch campaign so that we are fully prepared!

We would also like to congratulate the teams on REXUS-11 for the successful launch campaign that took place last week! We are kinda jealous but we hope to join the club in May next year! :D 

ps. check out our team t-shirts!

 The rocket module was tried out and voila, fits like a glove!
 Discussion and time for questions


 Maja and Johanna are admiring the experiment



 The experiment mounted on the bulk head with the candy-looking
power resistors in the electronics box.

 

Saturday, November 17, 2012

Today another saturday is spent in the school for the team members living in Kiruna. Todays tasks are to make the last minor adjustments, make the final assembly and perform the final vacuum and thermal tests.

Except that, all preparations have to be made for our EAR that we have at monday morning. We feel that we have got some really positive results since the IPR, hopefully Alex and Mikael will share this opinion.

Here you can see the major part of the experiment while Björn is working on the final assembly before the thermal tests.

Thursday, November 8, 2012

The story of Johanna and deadlines

After both exams and halloween celebration we are now working towards our deadline set on the 19th of November when the entire experiment shall be ready for shipping to Germany. The actual shipping will not take place until later but we want to have some time to work on last minute details and refinement.

Our first goal is the SED-submission due on monday the 12th so we figure there will be some late nights and weekend work for the team.

Our work right now is mainally to finish all soldering, PCB-manufacturing and procedure-documentation parallel with several tests. I managed to get a short interview with one of the team members, Johanna!

This is Johanna!
Johanna is working with the mechanics-team. Her work includes FEA-simulations, PCB-manufacturinga and battery insulation. She is studying towards a master in aero space engineering. Her favorite food is moose steak with potatoes and bearnaise sauce and she likes to walk around with a backpack in the forest. Her interests also includes skiing and making snow-angels.

So, Johanna, how is the work coming along?
- There are mostly refinement work left in the mechanics group and we are actually beginning to see the end!

What would you say is the best thing with Project SOLAR?
I would say that the education and team work is the best parts of the project. I learn new things all the time when it comes to project planning and engineering which I think will be a great experience in the  future.

What is the most difficult part of the project?
The communication can be quite a challenge since we have a pretty big team (14 people!)....we are all study at the same time with different schedules so the planning is hard sometimes. I´m impressed that we managed to pull it off during the entire project with meetings, deadlines etc. and there is no stopping us now!
What will you think when YOUR experiment is fired away onboard the sounding rocket?
I will be very happy of course to have actually made it to the end! I will also be very nervous about the outcome of the experiment; will something go wrong? did we forget something? what if this or that happens?
So mostly happy but a little bit nevous!


Is this Johannas life-long dream?
And how is life in the small city of Kiruna?
The surrounding nature is fantastic with the mountains and forest. The view from our school is beatiful now when there is snow on the trees and clear blue sky. The institute of space physics is right next door which is a great benefit when we have technical questions.
But I must say that there could be more people, a warmer climate and a McDonalds....then I would never leave!




Do you have any advice to those who want to start a project?Find a good group of people that you trust and that you can work with through both good and bad times. Make a good and realistic time-plan and what to do if something goes wrong. Have FUN and encourage each other.

Last question, who is your favorite team member in the group?
I would have to say Anneli, since she is so smart, funny, good-looking and a great friend!

Interview done by Anneli