FASTER
Status:
running since 2021
Number of students:
3
Management:
Arvid Skarin,
Adam Qvirist,
Erik Ergelin
Flying Attitude STabilized ExpeRiment (FASTER)
The goal for project FASTER is to develop project @aster.rexus’s attitude-controlled FFU and adapt it to parabolic flights. Its purpose is to improve microgravity conditions for different payload experiments. The platform control system will use three reaction wheels and data from an accelerometer will be collected from inside the payload bay and the floor of the aircraft. These data will then be compared in order to verify the improvements made by the platform.
Right now, the team is working on the final steps for the first 3D printed model of the platform. They are aiming to perform two parabolic flight campaigns using a small aircraft in Kiruna during 2021 to test the platform.
Payload/science
The platform control system will use three reaction wheels to control attitude during the microgravity phase of the flight. With that, we expect to improve the microgravity conditions in the less stable sections of the microgravity and to reduce vibrations and perturbations caused by the airplane and outside conditions by mitigating these effects with the ACS (Attitude Control System). To prove and measure the performance of the platform we will have a diagnostics payload consisting of several sensors in order to measure the different flight parameters. With them, we will take measurements of the gravity conditions from both the platform and the floor of the plane. The measurements from the payload will then be compared to have a quantitative measurement of the differences and improvements achieved by the system. To call the platform a success, we expect a reduction of the fluctuations of microgravity at the entry (Sweet Zone Entrance) and exit (Sweet Zone Exit) microgravity phase.