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CASCADES - Update - January 13, 2005

The sequence testing has been completed. The sequence testing can be thought of as a dress rehearsal for the launch. There is an order of events when the rocket is launched. See the timeline page for more specific information. Certain events occur in certain orders, for example you have ignition of engines, then you have the payload separating from the rest of the rocket, then you have individual payloads ejecting, and more. During the sequence testing they tested whether these things could properly occur. Much of the testing was related to the electrical devices, with the researchers doing tests to find out if things would deploy when needed. Now that this has been completed vibration testing will ensue. This will be more of a mechanical test, the instrumentation is put on a table that shakes it, this tests the stability and mechanical integrity.

Here are some photos of the payload part of the rocket in a more assembled state. Towards the right side of the picture below you can see the bagel detector. As you move down the rocket, more towards the center of the image you can see the two particle free flyers.

The thing that is most readily apparent in this picture is the camera that will be looking down after the different pieces of the rocket separate. This camera actually even looks and functions in a similar way to many other common cameras. The black piece is the lens and it will pop out and look down at the aurora when the rocket is in midair.

In this final picure we see the top end of the main payload structure. The rectangular instrument is the bagel; the two cylinders are the electron and ion detectors. The four tan tracks at the left edge of the picture are the "rail that the PFF deploys on.