Just recently, we completed a series of correction burns to match the semi-major axis of the orbit of both satellites to stop them drifting away from each other. In a few weeks/months we'll bring them back together and send a software update that will allow them to autonomously maintain formation flight.
Also, we will be doing live satellite operations at the Lange Nacht der Wissenschaften (22. June 2024) :)
It is and it does feel about as awesome as you can imagine. In our case we also had a tough integration and testing campaign where we were changing software and running into hardware issues, etc. so I was personally quite tense until we got first contact :) and since then, the satellites are surprising us every day with how well they work! (although we still have lots of things we want to improve)
I'm mentoring a group of high school students who were just selected by the CubeSat Launch Initiative to put a smallsat up.
It's not quite my first rodeo with this stuff, but it's still incredible to be a part of and see.
[It's incredible to be a part of, but it's also just a whole lot of attention to detail, paperwork, and paranoia]
People don't tend to let HS students do much, so it's pretty stirring when they get an email that said approximately "We appreciate your... dedication to furthering humanity’s presence in space and knowledge of the cosmos."
That is so cool! My biggest wide impact was creating the UI for first, or second, airline touchscreen check-in system ever deployed. The feeling of ownership/creation that I had knowing that my code was all around the West Coast was awesome.
I can only imagine how cool it must feel to be part of a project that has escaped the Earth's atmosphere, and zips by at orbital speeds. I would think that those high school kids will benefit from this project a lot. A truly mind-expanding experience.
Just recently, we completed a series of correction burns to match the semi-major axis of the orbit of both satellites to stop them drifting away from each other. In a few weeks/months we'll bring them back together and send a software update that will allow them to autonomously maintain formation flight.
Also, we will be doing live satellite operations at the Lange Nacht der Wissenschaften (22. June 2024) :)