Top plate ejection testing
November 21, 2010 Leave a comment
So as (almost) usual we’re at the lab on a Sunday, as most of the testing doesn’t seem to fit in our timetables. However as the sun is not showing up as often as you’d want her to, working seems like a fairly good way of killing time.
So what’s happened is first of all, that we all came in pretty late and somehow tired between 3 and 4 pm. Then we needed some time to find ll the stuff and to remember what we actually wanted to do. Eventually we figured out that we needed some small modifications from Gustav so David and I could do a test on the top-plate ejection system which i a crucial part of the landing system. Hence it is really important that it works cause otherwise the parachute will not open and the experiment might be lost for good.
Our first attempts to test the system failed due to the rope holding down the lock broke while we where still trying to close it. Just as we started to become desperate and thought we’d have to redesign the whole thing Gustav came up with an idea. He suggested to put some tube around the wire at the place where we are joining it with another wire. This “cushion” worked fine and so we consider the Sunday a successful one.
