PAYLOAD SUBSYSTEM
S A P P H I R E .
P A Y L O A D .
S U B S Y S T E M
____________________
- THD
- Digital Camera
- Voice Synthesizer
- Subsystem Wiring and Signal Flow Diagram
- Detailed Drawings
SUBSYSTEM OVERVIEW
The payload subsystem in SAPPHIRE is composed of three components: the two Tunneling Horizon Detectors (THD), a digital camera, and a voice synthesizer.
The pair of THD's are being space qualified for JPL aboard SAPPHIRE. These detectors, developed by Dr. Tom Kenny in the Mechanical Engineering Department at Stanford University, are based off a micromachined IR sensor.
The digital camera is a modfied Logitech Fotoman Plus, an 8-bit grayscale digital camera, utilizing RS-232 serial communications, and JPEG compression of the pictures. The camera will be used for low resolution pictures of the Earth.
The voice synthesizer is an RC Systems V8600 Voice Sythesizer, which also utilizes RS-232 serial communications, and converts an ASCII text string into audio signal, that is sent to the transmitter. The audio signal from the transmitter can be received on a handheld radio on the ground.
A planned payload of a Trimble SV6-CM2 was dropped due to lack of space on the payload tray and difficulties with the software modifications needed.
Follow these links for more information on the topics :
Or click below to :
_______________________________________________
Last updated : September 24. 1996
Maintained by: Jeffrey Chan