07 April, 2022
Song of the Day: Mr. Blue Sky - Electric Light Orchestra
I DID IT!
I’m going to be spending my summer break working for NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. I cannot believe it.
I’ll be down there continuing the work I’ve been doing for them this semester during my independent study. Namely, working on testing and developing a new Commercial Off-the-Shelf (COTS) star tracker constructed from a Raspberry Pi (or other SBC) and an attachable camera. The hope is that they could serve as a cheaper and lighter alternative/option for smaller satellites and cubeSATs that are looking for some degree of star tracking for attitude determination.
In laymen’s terms, we’ll be working on a system that you can buy the parts for in a store and assemble yourself for under $200 and testing to see how reasonable an alternative it is in certain situations to the standard option, which are basically custom-made, big, and tend to go for prices that would typically come with a mortgage.
I can’t wait to get down there and get started!