Teachers in Space Jim Kuhl and Chris Murphy visited Perlan in Minden May 4-7, just in time to help with our first check flight of 2018. Their focus was on the new cubesat housing built by Alec Guay for a grad level university class. (He got an “A” naturally.) Alec and Greg worked really hard to engineer the rack so that it would protect the cubesats and not get in the way of other Perlan science equipment or the wing spars. That real estate is very very very scarce.
The rack which houses 3 cubesat experiments slips into a permanent sleeve secured to the ceiling of the science bay. There is a lot of wiring from Perlan’s main battery just beneath the sleeve. Once the battery box insulated top is positioned, the ELT (Emergency Locator Transmitter) antenna is secured on top of the battery box. It looks like a green card in the photos. The cubesat sleeve must be inserted before the ELT antenna is locked into position. The green antenna is only 1/2 inch from cubesat box. The bottom of the cubesat sleeve is only 1/2 inch from the wing spars. Like I said, it is a very tight fit all the way around. The science bay hatch is fiberglass allowing antennas to work. (Antennas do not transmit through the strong carbon fiber in virtually all the rest of Perlan2 construction.)
Jim K and Chris M were very helpful on our functional check flight FCF. They worked on cubesats, anntena placement, launch and recovery ground ops. Thanks guys! I did share tips on best restaurants and food on the shores of Lake Tahoe since we want them to come back …and work more….Perlan Soars! Jackie
