19 Jul Alex Birck, LASP, Week 7

Hello everyone!

My seventh week at the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) was another busy week full of new experiences and getting to see more of what happens before a spacecraft launches. With everyone back from the conference, things picked up again at the lab, and one of the biggest things I got to be a part of this week was helping prepare SPRITE for thermal vacuum (TVAC) testing.

SPRITE before entering the chamber

The biggest project this week was getting SPRITE ready for TVAC. Thermal vacuum testing is an important step before launch because it tests how the spacecraft will handle the environment of space. During the test, SPRITE is placed inside a vacuum chamber and cycled between hot and cold temperatures to simulate what it will experience while orbiting Earth and moving between sunlight and darkness. Throughout the test, we monitored that the radios, batteries, and other electronics continued working properly under those conditions.

Since the TVAC chamber was located in another building, I helped move SPRITE and its support table across campus while making sure everything stayed as clean as possible. Before SPRITE was placed inside the chamber, everyone had a meeting to go over what was going to happen during the test and what steps would need to be taken. While everyone was in the meeting, I stayed with SPRITE and helped keep the spacecraft clean by monitoring the nitrogen being pumped into it. The nitrogen helped maintain a clean environment around the spacecraft while we prepared it for testing. After the meeting, we continued getting everything ready, and I got to watch SPRITE finally be placed into the chamber and see another major milestone before launch.

The TVAC testing was paused on Wednesday, but it was still really interesting to see all the preparation that goes into a test like this. There are many small details that have to be considered before a spacecraft can go through testing, and it was cool to see how carefully everything was handled.

The 9-pin connector

When I wasn’t helping with SPRITE, I spent time working with Mike on soldering electrical connectors. This was another great opportunity to get more hands-on experience with spacecraft hardware. I worked on both 9-pin and 25-pin connectors by first stripping the ends of the wires and preparing them for the connections. After that, I applied flux to help the solder flow properly and soldered each wire into its correct pin. Since each connector had many individual wires, it was important to carefully follow where each connection needed to go.

After finishing the soldering, the connectors still had leftover flux on them, which left a sticky residue. To clean them, we placed each connector into an ultrasonic cleaner filled with 2-propanol (isopropyl alcohol). The vibrations from the cleaner removed the remaining flux and cleaned the connectors so they were ready to be used. It was interesting to see the entire process, from making the electrical connections to cleaning and preparing the final hardware.

Me Bowling

Outside of work, I continued exploring Boulder and enjoying the area around LASP. One afternoon, I biked down to Boulder Creek and went swimming for a while before riding back. Another evening, I went bowling and played pool at The Connection in the University Memorial Center. I also biked down to Pearl Street, walked around for a bit, and grabbed some ice cream.

To finish off the week, Isaias and I went to Gateway Park Fun Center, where we played miniature golf and raced go-karts before heading out for pad thai. It was a fun way to end the week and take a break after another busy few days at the lab.

Week 7 was a great combination of spacecraft testing, electrical work, and exploring Boulder. Getting to see SPRITE begin TVAC testing was one of the biggest highlights of the internship because it showed how much progress had been made toward launch. With only one week left, it is hard to believe how quickly the summer has gone by.