Facilities
AUSSP is able to complete cradle to grave satellite development thanks to high quality facilities located across Auburn University. There are currently three main locations we use for satellite and mission development: Leach Science Center, Broun Hall, and the Advanced Engineering Lab (AEL). Each location is tailored to specific needs of the program.
Leach Science Center
Leach is home to the Physics department at Auburn along with the majority of our electrical, software, and thermal development teams. The Auburn University ground station is housed on the roof of leach, and allows for full control of satellite operations from Auburn.
Computers for thermal simulations with Thermal Desktop are housed here. Students are able to use this industry standard tool to create high fidelity thermal models which serve as a check prior to thermal vacuum testing. In addition, satellite coatings for passive thermal control are applied in Leach lab.
Software development done in Leach lab mostly focuses on the in-house developed ARES operating system. From Leach, it is possible to grow the software from a basic skeleton to a fully fledged OS with interconnectivity to the ground station.
The final subsystem housed in Leach lab is the Electrical & Power System, or EPS. This is the heart of the satellite which collects, stores, and distributes power to all subsystems. In the lab, Altium is used to design everything from electrical ground support equipment, to test boards, to final designs.
Broun Hall
Broun hall houses the Electrical and Computer Engineering department of Auburn University. All RF work done for AUSSP occurs here including antenna characterization and testing. The newest addition to the list of AUSSP facilities is the Space Vehicle Integration & Test Lab (SVIT), and this is hosted in Broun as well. Lastly, this building is also home to a circuit board population station
At Auburn, we are developing our own radios, antennas and RF payloads. To enable this work, we have two labs which specialize in design, development, and testing of RF systems and test boards. Once the final systems are made, they can be put in our anechoic chamber and characterized.
Arguably the most important AUSSP facility the SVIT serves three functions in one room: a class 10,000 clean room, a T-vac, and a Helmholtz cage. The T-vac and Helmholtz cage are both in the clean section of the lab and allow fully integrated satellites to be maintained at high cleanliness levels while being tested. The lab has ample storage and integration space for multiple operations to occur at once. The Helmholtz cage is easily operated by a single console and includes a 3-axis air bearing. Finally, the T-vac system is capable of thermally cycling up to a 12U CubeSat.
In the basement of Broun Hall, we have a circuit board population station which allows us to populate and test boards as fast as we can receive parts. These boards can then be quickly moved upstairs to the RF labs, or into the SVIT for integration and testing.
AEL
This lab space is just off campus in the Auburn University Research Park. This space allows AUSSP to conduct CUI research and host secure meetings. Its current use is mainly for optical payloads being developed by AUSSP, but a sizable amount of EPS work also occurs in this location.
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