In May, PAST made technical progress in both radio systems testing and ADCS development. The onboarding process for new recruits is nearing completion, with logbook having been submitted, and we’re excited to welcome many new members to the team soon. As students prepare for early June exams and the university semester draws to a close, the team is looking forward to making further strides during the upcoming winter break. 

Onboarding wraps up 

After eight weeks of dedicated work on their onboarding projects, recruits submitted logbooks detailing their progress and achievements. The Steering Team was thoroughly impressed with the quality of their work. As the final step, recruits will now undergo interviews before officially joining the team. We are excited to soon be welcome many more new faces to PAST, and are excited by the energy and commitment they will bring! 

High Altitude Balloon Update 

There has been significant progress and anticipation towards PAST's High Altitude Balloon Launch, however, due to unideal launch conditions and a tight deadline, Steering Team decided to focus on completing all HAB subsystems and systems integration this year before setting an exact launch date. This will allow the team to develop all HAB systems to the best of their ability and give the team the best chance to successfully launch and test all subsystems. 

Project Updates 

LoRA Testing 

LoRA, a Long-Range radio protocol, is PAST’s backup communications for the High-Altitude Balloon Launch. Raph (Avionics Lead) has fabricated a breakout board for a LoRA module and has begun range testing on the Curtin campus. Transmitting and receiving has been successful up to 150m on the Curtin Oval. In a few weeks, Raph and Rayaan (Avionics member) will go to Curtin’s Institute of Radio Astronomy (CIRA) to test the LoRA module further. They plan to test for spurious/harmonic emissions, measure signal power, check the power amplifier works and identifyexplanations for low signal noise ratio (SNR).  

PULSAR (Radio Transceiver) 

PULSAR is the CubeSat transceiver that will be tested on the upcoming high-altitude balloon. New boards have been soldered with components, and Sean (Systems Lead and Avionics Member) has been doing long range tests on campus. Without the power amplifier there were able to communicate at ranges up to 175m with 0.01W which is promising. Full power tests at longer ranges are scheduled to happen as soon as possible.  

OSIRIS (Sun Sensors) 

OSIRIS is the coarse sun sensor project being developed by Felix (Marketing Lead and ADCS Member). Initial tests of the sensor modules has been successful, and using multiple sensors on each face of a cube, a coarse position of the light source’s position was successfully obtained. A new algorithm has been developed to better calculate the incidence angles, which preliminary testing proved to be an improvement from previous approaches.

ADCS Testbed 

 The Attitude Determination and Control System (ADCS) Testbed is designed to be a near frictionless platform with 3 degrees of freedom (up to 50 degrees) used to effectively test the CubeSat’s pointing and detumbling capabilities. Tom (ADCS member) has designed a prototype air bearing, which passes compressed air through small holes on a concave surface. This creates a thin layer of air on which the rotor will ‘float’ on, thereby allowing the bearing to rotate freely with minimal friction. ADCS plans to test attitude control using this testbed in conjunction with a Helmholtz cage to simulate the earth’s magnetic field in low earth orbit. 

Marketing 

We’re excited about several developments on the marketing front. The team has been planning a fresh series of promotional reels to highlight our progress and engage a wider audience. Over the semester break, efforts will also begin on producing a commercial that captures the spirit and mission of PAST, setting the stage for an even stronger public presence in the coming months. Big things are happening for marketing!

Website Upgrades

The PAST website has had some upgrades! Check out our newly polished Projects page and About page. Our first blog on OSIRIS has been uploaded to the News page as well – and there is a whole lot more to come! 

Looking Ahead 

As we head into the semester break, PAST will shift its focus to the development of HAB subsystems. After exams, we’ll host our sixth General Meeting to welcome a new wave of members to the team, followed by a fun social night to celebrate and connect.