|
|
|   Vincent
Augustus Davis
James Smith, Jr.
Mentor: Walter Mitnick and Lisa
Segal
Internship: John Hopkins University/Applied
Physics Laboratory - Mercury Surface, Space Environment, Geochemistry,
and Ranging Mission (MESSENGER)
Title: Upgrading Messenger and Stereo Satellite
This project involved operating the Messenger
and Stereo database system and working on upgrades to the
system using Visual Basic. Messenger and Stereo are satellites
due to be launched in 2003 and 2004, respectively. The database
processes command and telemetry workbooks (Excel spreadsheets)
which have been checked out and resubmitted by workbook developers.
When resubmitted, the workbook is first processed through
the Prepare error checker, which if successful moves the file
from the review to the checked folder and creates an error
file of size 0. Next, the workbook is approved through a Netscape
browser which sends an email to the submitter and moves the
workbook from checked to pending. The workbook is then added
to the total database of all command and telemetry workbooks
for Stereo or Messenger. Next, the entire contents of the
database are written out to an ASCII file (called a “flatfile”),
which is then tested and distributed to users. Another program,
“The Final Say,” sends email to the appropriate
administrators that the submitted workbook is valid and updates
the flatfile Finder spreadsheet. The assignment has been to
help streamline this process by adjusting “The Final
Say” so that it batches files according to the scenario
for which the workbook was submitted. Other projects involve
making each part of the process give the user more information
about the state of the workbook. In addition, the project
included Perl/TK upgrades to the APL Epoch MOC.
|
| Minority
interns at APL boost Mercury space mission
From: Johns
Hopkins Gazette, Johns Hopkins University, June 23, 2003
APL's
MESSENGER mission is getting a boost this summer from the
talents of 14 undergraduate college students in MU-SPIN (the
Minority-University SPace Interdisciplinary Network), a program
designed to train NASA's next generation of minority scientists
and engineers.
The
student interns, from schools across the country, are developing
their technical skills by working with experts in spacecraft
integration and testing, mission design, mission operations,
mechanical support and Web site management.
MESSENGER,
a NASA Discovery mission to orbit the planet Mercury, is scheduled
to launch next spring. MU-SPIN is a MESSENGER Education and
Public Outreach team partner. For more information on the
mission, go to http://messenger.jhuapl.edu.
|
|
