What does it take to point a spacecraft with only one thruster? In this episode, we dive into the engineering behind DeepSpace‑2’s gimbal system: a mechanical interface that enables directional control for our electric propulsion. GNC Engineer Emerson and Flight Software Engineer Kieran walk us through how they built the software, math, and lookup tables needed to command the gimbal, and why the complexity goes far deeper than just “move this motor.”
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What does it take to point a spacecraft with only one thruster? In this episode, we dive into the engineering behind DeepSpace‑2’s gimbal system: a mechanical interface that enables directional control for our electric propulsion. GNC Engineer Emerson and Flight Software Engineer Kieran walk us through how they built the software, math, and lookup tables needed to command the gimbal, and why the complexity goes far deeper than just “move this motor.”
In this episode, Matt sits down with Nathan (Flight Software) and Ethan (Avionics) to walk through the architecture, tradeoffs, and bring-up of the DeepSpace-2 flight computer. From why we split responsibilities across two processors to how we’re automating interface validation and handling memory redundancy in deep space, this week's episode is a deep dive into the logic behind the bus.
Roid Rage
What does it take to point a spacecraft with only one thruster? In this episode, we dive into the engineering behind DeepSpace‑2’s gimbal system: a mechanical interface that enables directional control for our electric propulsion. GNC Engineer Emerson and Flight Software Engineer Kieran walk us through how they built the software, math, and lookup tables needed to command the gimbal, and why the complexity goes far deeper than just “move this motor.”
