New Horizons Technical Details

[German_EE]

http://www.uhf-satcom.com/amateurdsn/Paper-969.pdf

Technical details on the communication systems including diagrams and photos.

[T3sl4co1l]

And yes by the way, boys and girls, there are vacuum tubes flying out there in space.  Predominantly, I think?  (Maybe not newer Earth orbiting satellites, but they're top choice for all the deep space probes.)

Tim

[Dinsdale]

From reddit.com:

The code on the spacecraft is written in Assembly. --SJR

Oh! They're "assembly language idiots"!

[fcb]

From reddit.com:

The code on the spacecraft is written in Assembly. --SJR

Oh! They're "assembly language idiots"!

And how many of your designs are flying in space?

[Dinsdale]

I was hoping to draw some more specific comments on the software for this mission.

I thought everyone would be familiar with the part of my comment in quotes. If you are a big Dave fan (like me), you should recognize it.

When I hit "Post", it struck me that this could start some kind of flame war that I didn't intend. So, if you need to comment "off topic", please start another thread. This one is too important.

I apologize for being a smartass.

To answer your question: A couple months ago, a vector board with 12 MOSFETs I fried... I think it's in space.

[miguelvp]

Only thing I see in the pdf is a bunch of FPGAs, I guess they are referring that they programmed the softcores in assembly.

[zapta]

And yes by the way, boys and girls, there are vacuum tubes flying out there in space.  Predominantly, I think?  (Maybe not newer Earth orbiting satellites, but they're top choice for all the deep space probes.)

Tim

Can you explain?

[Dinsdale]

Only thing I see in the pdf is a bunch of FPGAs, I guess they are referring that they programmed the softcores in assembly.

My comment was in reference to the main processor. I thought that might fall under the topic of "New Horizons Technical Details". Sorry.

But, apparently, after reading http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/3d9luh/were_scientists_on_the_nasa_new_horizons_team/ a little more, there might have been some confusion about that answer and the code was probably mostly written in C.

[T3sl4co1l]

And yes by the way, boys and girls, there are vacuum tubes flying out there in space.  Predominantly, I think?  (Maybe not newer Earth orbiting satellites, but they're top choice for all the deep space probes.)

Tim

Can you explain?

Travelling Wave Amplifier Tubes (TWTAs) are one of the more efficient wideband amplification methods, reasonably low noise, but most importantly: have been used in space since forever, so they're a *very* mature and reliable method.  New Horizons has a pair of 12W amps.

I expect satellites use semiconductor amplifiers as a matter of course, these days, but those are much more numerous and less of a liability if they die.

Tim

[edavid]

Only thing I see in the pdf is a bunch of FPGAs, I guess they are referring that they programmed the softcores in assembly.

My comment was in reference to the main processor. I thought that might fall under the topic of "New Horizons Technical Details". Sorry.

But, apparently, after reading http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/3d9luh/were_scientists_on_the_nasa_new_horizons_team/ a little more, there might have been some confusion about that answer and the code was probably mostly written in C.

Here's the edited answer:

Speaking only of the spacecraft code, that was written in C using the Nucleus RTOS. I'd bet there was some assembly in the board support package and maybe some sprinkled here and there, but it the vast majority was written in C. The guidance and control algorithms were auto-generated C via Simulink. --Christopher Krupiarz, New Horizons Flight Software

[edavid]

http://www.uhf-satcom.com/amateurdsn/Paper-969.pdf

Technical details on the communication systems including diagrams and photos.

Does anyone know if they were able to turn on the dual-TWTA turbo mode mentioned in this paper?

[rs20]

Out of interest, is the data encrypted? Or could one (hypothetically, with a large enough array and enough protocol reverse engineering skill) pick up the signal and get the pluto pictures ahead of everyone else?

I also enjoyed this tidbit: "A high-gain thermal control loop keeps the crystal resonator temperature stable to within several thousandths of a degree Celsius over the entire operating temperature range of the USO", and also the mention of regenerative circuits which I found amusing given the recent EEVBlog episodes.

[T3sl4co1l]

If they had put 10kW transmitters on it, perhaps.  It's so weak, you're basically not going to get anything without a complete Deep Space Network to hear it, though!

AFAIK, their comms are encoded, for spectral, error correcting, and compression reasons.  But not encrypted as such.

Tim

[rbola35618]

Hi EEBloggers,

I worked on one of the instruments that is on board the New Horizon spacecraft. The instrument is called SWAP (Solar Winds Around Pluto). Specifically, I worked on the high voltage power. There are 5 or 6 high voltage power supplies the supply up to 4000 volts. The supplies were designed by my mentor who passed away three years ago, Jack Alexander. The other designer was Pat Casey. A fellow by the name of Dennis Guerrero designed the magnetics.  Testing and calibration of the supplies was performed by Dennis with me as his assistant. It was a privileged to have worked with all of them. Since then, I have two of my designs flying in space. My first design to fly in space is called IBEW. My second design flying in space launched this year on the mission called MMS. Soon I will have a third flying on a mission called STRFIO. Presently working on a low voltage supply the will go to one of Jupiters moons on a spacecraft called JUICE?

RB

[fcb]

5-6 lines is all we get rbola35618!!!!

We want details, we want to hear about problems, we want to hear about silicon used and above all - we want numbers!!!

[German_EE]

Agreed, more details about how you design and build space qualified hardware would be appreciated. Not just the launch vibration issues, there are also the problems of intense heat and cold plus years spent in a hard vacuum.

[Psi]

5-6 lines is all we get rbola35618!!!!

We want details, we want to hear about problems, we want to hear about silicon used and above all - we want numbers!!!

in other words, we want to hear all about the stuff you're not allowed to tell us

[MikeW]

Why not? It's not military stuff.

[Mechanical Menace]

I want to know why a probe was wasted on the boring none planet...

[TerraHertz]

5-6 lines is all we get rbola35618!!!!

We want details, we want to hear about problems, we want to hear about silicon used and above all - we want numbers!!!

in other words, we want to hear all about the stuff you're not allowed to tell us

And we want PHOTOS OF ALL THE SECRET THINGS!

[free_electron]

Breaking news : nasa sends probe to uranus, people everywhere giggle...

[T3sl4co1l]

Speaking of, I wonder: would they be able to do a mission like Cassini, where they tour the moons, rings (if any) and monitor weather?  And, being in that general neighborhood, might it be possible to arrange a sufficiently elliptical orbit that would allow for a low fuel transfer to/from Neptune/Uranus if/when nearby?  (I'd have to check a chart to see if they're anywhere near each other in the immediate future, or if they ever approach very much.)  Going to guess such an orbit is preposterously huge, given the vast distances between planets out there, so nevermind.

Tim

[German_EE]

There's nothing secret about the way they construct satellites so I'm hoping that interplanetary probes use the same techniques. A couple of years ago there was a documentary on Discovery where they showed the construction of one of the ASTRA satellites and they went into considerable detail. One thing I remember was the heating and cooling requirements where they used heat pipes to 'carry' heat from the hot side of the satellite to the cold side.

The amazing thing was the size, one of the latest ASTRA satellites is about the same size as an American school bus and most of that is fuel tanks.