ASPERA-3 Apr. 25, 00 Monthly Status Report ASPERA Monthly Status ReportMonthly 4_25/ Page 1 Monthly Status Report Report due 4/25/00 Schedule statused as of April 7, 2000

ASPERA-3 Apr. 25, 00 Monthly Status Report ASPERA Monthly Status ReportMonthly 4_25/ Page 2 Project Status Summary Technical Feb Mar Apr Detailed Description: (for items identified as yellow or red) Programmatic Feb Mar Apr Schedule Feb Mar Apr Resources Feb Mar Apr The contract is now in place at SwRI. This is no longer a (big) worry. We do not see any problems at this time either technical, schedule, or programmatic. We are still on schedule though the schedule is tight. We have been continuing to use additional personnel (while remaining on our spend plan) to maintain the schedule. Latest project photos are available on Aspera-3 web site.

ASPERA-3 Apr. 25, 00 Monthly Status Report ASPERA Monthly Status ReportMonthly 4_25/ Page 3 Problem and Concern Summary P=Problem C=Concern R=Resolved

ASPERA-3 Apr. 25, 00 Monthly Status Report ASPERA Monthly Status ReportMonthly 4_25/ Page 4 Accomplishments of the Last Month -ELS Completed UV coating of the prototype parts.  Finished fabrication of the MCP holder for the prototype, flight and flight spare instrument.  Continued bench level compatibility tests between HVPS and FEE.  Continued work on the ELS EGSE completing the cabling, software and test setup. We decided that the current printed circuit boards (HVPS and FEE) that were used for the prototype are suitable for flight. (Note: They were bought with certs. And are in the prcess of being blessed by QA) Finished the Dynamic Analysis of the ELS sensor. Began drafting test procedures for upcoming prototype testing.

ASPERA-3 Apr. 25, 00 Monthly Status Report ASPERA Monthly Status ReportMonthly 4_25/ Page 5 Accomplishments of the Last Month - IMA Finished populating the anode board and the digital board. Bench tested the IMA electronics to determine the noise floor and sensitivity. Boards look very good! Finished the machining of the mechanical parts for IMA prototype, flight and flight spare IMA detector. Performed fit check with IMA electronics, MCPs, and mechanical parts. Two mechanical parts needed to be remade / modified. They are now complete. Following the bench test and the fit check, we decided that the current printed circuit boards (anode and digital) that were used for the prototype are suitable for flight. (Note: They also were bought with certs.) Finished the Dynamic Analysis of the IMA detector.

ASPERA-3 Apr. 25, 00 Monthly Status Report ASPERA Monthly Status ReportMonthly 4_25/ Page 6 Accomplishments of the Last Month - IMA (cont.) IMA MCPs are in house. Continued design and coding of the IMA GSE. Designed test set-up and fabricated IMA test Break Out Box. Began drafting test procedures that will be used for IMA prototype testing.

ASPERA-3 Apr. 25, 00 Monthly Status Report ASPERA Monthly Status ReportMonthly 4_25/ Page 7 Accomplishments of the Last Month - Data Reduction Software  Configured ASPERA-3 Development Computer (phobos.space.swri.edu)  Updated ASPERA-3.org Web Site Documentation  Provided Technical Assistance for EPO Web Information  Continued Defining and Implementing IDFS Web Tools  Provided Support for ELS Characterization Software  Held monthly ASPERA-3 Software Status Meeting (April 20, 2000)

ASPERA-3 Apr. 25, 00 Monthly Status Report ASPERA Monthly Status ReportMonthly 4_25/ Page 8 Planned Activities for the Next Month - ELS Perform fit check of housing, HVPS and FEE when housing is received back from UV coating at Walton Plating. Note: The parts were held up in customs for about a week coming back from England but are now in-house at SwRI as of 4/24/00. Finalize cabling for ELS vacuum tests. Finalize testing of the Astrid EGSE to use for ELS. Decide on course of action regarding ELS alignment (fab in- house, fab out-of-house) Continue to monitor status of ELS vs. IMA prototype to determine which one will be ready to go into cal chamber first.

ASPERA-3 Apr. 25, 00 Monthly Status Report ASPERA Monthly Status ReportMonthly 4_25/ Page 9 Planned Activities for the Next Month - IMA Finish testing the IMA EGSE. Finish drafting IMA test procedures. Continue to monitor status of ELS vs. IMA prototype to determine which one will be ready to go into cal chamber first. It looks like it will be IMA due to lack of MCPs for ELS. Begin vacuum testing the IMA detector.

ASPERA-3 Apr. 25, 00 Monthly Status Report ASPERA Monthly Status ReportMonthly 4_25/ Page 10 Planned Activities for the Next Month - Data Reduction Software Tasks Release Software Development Plan, Version 1.1 Deliver Project Data Management Plan, Version 1.0 (by May 5, 2000) Baseline ASPERA-3.org Web Site Documentation Continue Providing Technical Assistance for EPO Web Information Continue Defining and Implementing IDFS Web Tools Provide Software Support for ELS Characterization

ASPERA-3 Apr. 25, 00 Monthly Status Report ASPERA Monthly Status ReportMonthly 4_25/ Page 11 Problem and Concern Status Getting final contract in Place by March 1, 2000 (now April ): The contract is now in place. We will now start to get our subcontracts in place with outside vendors (Burle, MSSL) and CoI’s. Assembly Process for ELS with UV Coated Parts: Still a concern. We have received the prototype parts back from Walton Plating and are now developing procedures, processes, jigs etc. to aid in the assembly of ELS.

ASPERA-3 Apr. 25, 00 Monthly Status Report ASPERA Monthly Status ReportMonthly 4_25/ Page 12 Problem and Concern Status (cont.). Delivery of MCP’s from Burle : This is a new concern. The microchannel plates were ordered Dec 5, 1999 with an incentive fee to be awarded if they were delivered within 12 weeks (2/27/00) ARO and a penalty if they were delivered after 15 weeks (3/19/00) ARO. As of 4/11/00 the projected delivery date was 4/28/00, well beyond the penalty date. If we do not receive the prototype plates in early May, we will start to impact our prototype schedule. We are actively tracking this problem and may be visiting Burle in the next couple of weeks to better assess the problem.

ASPERA-3 Apr. 25, 00 Monthly Status Report ASPERA Monthly Status ReportMonthly 4_25/ Page 13 Problem and Concern Status (cont.) Alignment of ELS : This is a new concern. We have finally received a quote from an outside machine shop, Hyperfine of Boulder, CO, for manufacture of the ELS deflection plate system to meet the desired tolerance limits. The quote is substantially more expensive than we currently have budgeted and is slightly longer than scheduled. We are currently looking at other options including an optics machine shop at MSFC, in-house fab, other outside shops, and operational workarounds.

ASPERA-3 Apr. 25, 00 Monthly Status Report ASPERA Monthly Status ReportMonthly 4_25/ Page 14 Schedule Summary Total float on the tasks in the schedule has increased since the last schedule reporting period for two reasons: –Modifying the flow of flight printed circuit board flow –Adjusting some of the predecessor / successor logic to better reflect the current build and test plan Mechanical activities are the critical path for ELS (28 days float) and electrical interconnects is the critical path for IMA activities (23 days float). As with last month: –Schedule still has 21 days slack at the end (DEL0050) in addition to float shown for each task –Most flight activity is serial with prototype activities. We can (will) do activities in parallel to maintain schedule. We have modified the schedule to reflect using the “proto” ELS boards for flight. We will update the schedule accordingly for IMA assuming they are bought off by QA for flight.. Software activities continue to be on schedule. The full-up schedule is available on the ASPERA-3 Web site.full-up schedule

ASPERA-3 Apr. 25, 00 Monthly Status Report ASPERA Monthly Status ReportMonthly 4_25/ Page 15 ASPERA-3 PHASE B/C/D MASTER SCHEDULE