Re: [amsat-bb] Squawks about the ATOS

["Edward R. Cole" <al7eb@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

>From: Margaret Leber <maggie@voicenet.com>
>Obvioulsy something went wrong. At a quick glance it does sound 
>suspicuously like the same kind of "opened a valve and then couldn't 
>get it closed" type of failure mode as occurred with the bipropellant 
>motor. 
>
>However, let's remeber that it took quite a while for intensive 
>telemetry analysis to produce a best-guess answer as to exactly what 
>had happened to the bipropellant motor. 
>
>Once the bird is 3-axis stable and the wings are deployed, we'll have 
>*years* to armchair quarterback what happened to the ATOS. (Our non-US 
>friends may understand the "armchair quarterback" idiom better as 
>"back-seat driver". :-)) Until then I think the control team's 
>attention is probably better spent on flying the bird.

Uhuh.  Well we've had a pretty shaky track record so far...sooo who says
the wheels will work or the panels will unfold?  I would worry that
activating them may cause further problems.  I wonder how much the system
status reveals about any mechanical damage that may have transpired during
the 400N event(s).

Yes, I know that I am armchair speculating here.  But I fix electronics for
a living...30 years worth...and my intuition tells me to be careful.  I do
not envy the control team, or the designers.  If all goes well...they're
heros...if activating the wheels/panels causes further failure...well?

A question they must be asking is whether there is a point at which doing
nothing more makes more sense, if the satellite is currently in long-term
stable status.

I am not being unsupportive...just honest.

Ed
fingers & toes crossed; knocking on wood; throwing salt over my left
shoulder...think that will help?

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