No field campaign is complete without its share of minor catastrophes. In this case, once assembly was finsihed and testing underway, a short circuit in a power wire cause some other circuit boards to release their magical black smoke, thus becoming non-functional.
Stormy weather also made it impossible to looks at stars at night (needed to test the gondola’s pointing/tracking system). So we proceeded with a more complete disassembly to fix other issues like the heaters inside the telescope baffle.
Site of magic smoke release
People gather to inspect the damage.
Casualty #1
A ribbon cable used for motor control
Casualty #2
The board to which the ribbon cable connects
Quiet morning
Reassessing the damage with clear heads
The culprit: a pinched wire
Lunchtime grub at the grill gazebo
Paul teaches Vy about soldering
Showing off his replacement board
He seems proud, though I'm not exactly sure if I'm interpreting the expression correctly
Testing the replacements
Discovered casualty #3
The motor controller for the reaction wheel
Weigh-in
1775 lbs
John gets a prize for finding the culprit
A figurehead, since BIT is boat-shaped
Cleaning out the baffle
Stapling heater panels
The new improved system. As far as I am aware, this is the first time we've used staples in flight hardware
Bill and Barth start reinstalling the improved heaters
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