Space based applications

JawSAT Project

PAYLOAD PROFILE:

The JAWSAT payload consisted of five separate satellite payloads integrated for launch and deployment aboard the MPA.

Weight: 430 pounds

Size 50 X 40 X 40 inches

Experiments:

  • ACP Attitude Determination Control System

  • MPA Multi-payload Adapter

  • *USAF Academy FALCONSAT Plasma Experiment Satellite Test

  • *Stanford University OPALSAT: Orbiting PecoSAT Automatic Launcher

  • *Arizona State University ASUSAT

  • *OCSE Optical Calibration Sphere

  • SAFRL Soft Particle Energy Spectrometer

  • Changing Hazards Wake Study

  • Weber State University OSSS SAT

  • Soft Ride Deployment System

  • Deployment Imaging System

  • Amateur UHF, VHF and S-Band Communications.

Flight article Fabrication and testing:

With the assistance of my buddy Mark, a student at Weber State we machined all the materials seen in the “ACP” bay with the exception of the box mounted diagonally at the top during the summer of 1999. The other bays all have parts that my assistant or I machined on a manual end mill or lathe.

In addition to the flight articles we also fabricated tooling and test fixturing for the integration process.

We inspected our parts to ensure that they met specifications outlined in the TDP I produced during the design phase of the project.

We then took our parts to assembly and testing in a clean room we built at Weber State University.


MISSION PROFILE:

JawSAT was an experimental mission mandated by Congress to be the first satellite payload launched aboard the Minotaur OSP launch vehicle. This launch vehicle is designed to use the first and second stage motors of decommissioned Minuteman ICBM missiles and the third and fourth stage motors of the Orbital Sciences Pegasus rocket.

CONTRACT

The contract called for the successful deployment of five individual satellite spacecraft from the Minotaur launch vehicle.

These included FALCONSAT, OPALSAT, ASUSAT, OCSE, and the operational experiments mounted to the MPA frame OSSS SAT, which consisted of the NASA Marshall space flight experiment PEST and the Weber State University experimental ACP.

The 18-month contract required the design, manufacture, testing and integration of components from some twenty participating organizations, which called for a far-reaching and effective means of coordination of efforts among participants. This was accomplished via an online FTP and database to which participants uploaded weekly progress reports and downloaded design specifications for integration of individual components. The contract was completed successfully with the launch of OSP 1 on January 28 2000 at 10:00 PM.