On tuesday we performed a first vacuum test, to see if our 3D-printed sensor head plates show any sort of outgassing or deformation and thereby if 3D printed items are generally usable in the expected pressure environment.
The test was successful, no one got harmed, the laboratory is still intact and no outgassing or deformation has been registrated.
Now, further and more detailed tests will hopefully confirm this result.
 Plates at the vacuum chamber |
 The 3D-printed plates |
This week our new designed boards, the 18 channel preamp board and the Ethernet board, were delivered. Finn and Sebastian already started soldering them and hopefully we can start taking first measurements with our instrument EVA soon. Furthermore all last orders like aluminum profiles, rubber buffers and most important the SSDs for EVA are out now. If they are delivered in time we can start assembling the experiment during the next few weeks!
Preamp-Board (top) and Ethernet Board (bottom)
We are back from the Critical Design Review event at ESA ESTEC in the Netherlands.
It were two really nice days and the best was: during our CDR we got a lot of positive feedback. But we are not perfect so there are still some slight improvements to be done. Right after that we can allocate most of our time into manufacturing and testing our instrument.
We use a forum to communicate within the team. This is because a chronological communication like in a chat has several problems:
Instead of a chat we use a team forum for non personal communication within the team. As a result we don’t have to worry about the drawbacks mentioned above. Furthermore by using a forum, every communiation is being saved and backuped and can be reviewed later if necessary.