We are very sorry, we did not keep you updated on the latest developments. As the final days before delivery went in hand with the last days of the winter semester, a time of the year when students are very busy, we neglected our duty of posting updates. But there are good news, we are still on track and had some major success in the past days.
Safety Review Phase III
We passed the final ESA safety review and with that have GO for launch from the safety experts. That means that our system is not harming the astronauts, will operate as expected and does not exceed any safety limits (min/max temperature, voltages, currents, …).
Close-out of Columbus interface requirements
Similarly, we now closed the verification process for the Columbus module integration. The required verification is quite similar as the ESA safety review process (not a surprise, since Columbus is an ESA module), but we are still happy that we could satisfy the integration managers.
Approval of ESA Software Control Board (SWCB)
After we did some minor modifications to the flight software, it was finally checked and approved by the ESA Software Control Board (SWCB). Our software consists of a security hardened raspbian OS and the spectrum analysis software (Soapy Power) + drivers & packages (LimeUtil, SoapySDR, …).
Labeling and Checkout of Hardware at ALTEC in Torino, Italy
Martin currently stays in Torino to label and check out the hardware. All items have now been filed in the ESA system and on March 6th the cargo review will be held. This is the last milestone for the hardware before launch!
