On June 13, 2017 we dressed bit in all of her fake solar panels to do some scan testing. Because bit needs to point so precisely, very small disturbances can totally upset the system. For this reason, even though we’re flying for a single night and don’t need solar power, BIT flies with fake solar panels to experience the same amount of wind and floppy parts as it will have with real solar panels.
I took the opportunity of having BIT fully dressed to take a bunch of photos.
Front port side
Front bottom
Featuring new maple leaf decoration on the front fake solar panel
Starboard front
Starboard
Back starboard
Piggy back
Some local students attach a tablet camera to the back of BIT to watch the flight
Balance weight
Tractor tie bars added to balance the outer frame
Extra struts
We added extra struts from the CSBF solar panels to make them more rigid. Without them they flop around and mess up pointing
Rear port
IMG_6826
Port
Front
Front in landscape
John is the wind!
Testing to see how much of a problem a little wind on the solar panels is. Fortunately, the wind in the stratosphere is quite weak
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