ASPERA-3 June 25, 00 Monthly Status Report ASPERA Monthly Status ReportMonthly 6_25/ Page 1 Monthly Status Report Report due 6/25/00 Schedule statused as of June 2, 2000

ASPERA-3 June 25, 00 Monthly Status Report ASPERA Monthly Status ReportMonthly 6_25/ Page 2 Project Status Summary Technical Apr May Jun Detailed Description: (for items identified as yellow or red) Programmatic Apr May Jun Schedule Apr May Jun Resources Apr May Jun Over the last period we completed our CDR with no major show stoppers or worries identified. We do not see any large problems at this time either technical, schedule, or programmatic. We continue to be on schedule though our reserve is reduced. Our biggest concerns have to do with the schedule of outside purchases/subcontracts. We are set to implement workarounds if necessary. Latest project photos are available on Aspera-3 web site.project photos

ASPERA-3 June 25, 00 Monthly Status Report ASPERA Monthly Status ReportMonthly 6_25/ Page 3 Problem and Concern Summary P=Problem C=Concern R=Resolved

ASPERA-3 June 25, 00 Monthly Status Report ASPERA Monthly Status ReportMonthly 6_25/ Page 4 Accomplishments of the Last Month -ELS Ran partial thermal test of ELS electronics. (The test was stopped so that ELS could be put in the vacuum chamber). The test involved full end-to-end use of the ELS electronics, cables, and EGSE that will be used during ELS characterization. Assembled ELS and put unit in the vacuum chamber. Unit will be pumped on until after June 27 when high voltage testing will start. Continued drafting ELS test procedures. Held CDR of the current ELS design and status

ASPERA-3 June 25, 00 Monthly Status Report ASPERA Monthly Status ReportMonthly 6_25/ Page 5 Accomplishments of the Last Month - IMA Completed high voltage testing of the prototype IMA detector system. Test was completely successful. Began characterization testing of IMA. After several modifications of the sources and source holders, we came up with a workable system. We can move IMA around (radially and rotationally) and see the source “light up” the various rings and sectors. Held CDR of the current IMA design and status Problem found: During the testing, it appeared that 2 sectors were either dead or weaker than the others. We removed IMA from the chamber to inspect the assembly. It was found that the Pogos that connect the sector from the amplifier board to the FPGA board were not electrically connected. (See Problem and Concern Status chart for more information).

ASPERA-3 June 25, 00 Monthly Status Report ASPERA Monthly Status ReportMonthly 6_25/ Page 6 Accomplishments of the Last Month – IMA (cont.) Problem Found: During inspection of the assembly for the Pogo problem, we also found out that the MCP was broken. (See Problem and Concern Status chart for more information). Problem Found: An issue that appeared during early board testing of the IMA assembly continues. The test pattern that the FPGA outputs is too fast for the EGSE to keep up with. The plan is to modify the FPGA (prototype and flight) to output a slower pattern. This change will be made as the pogos and MCP holder are modified. We continued drafting IMA test procedures. Even with the above noted problems, we were able to test IMA sufficiently to fully exercise the electronics. With this testing successfully completed, we will now start assembly of the flight and flight spare boards. (Note that the above mentioned problems do not effect the IMA boards)

ASPERA-3 June 25, 00 Monthly Status Report ASPERA Monthly Status ReportMonthly 6_25/ Page 7 Accomplishments of the Last Month - Data Reduction Software Discussed Project Data Management Plan, Version 1.0 With PDS Personnel. Will Address Comments in Next Revision to be Released Later This Year Updated ASPERA-3.org Web Site Documentation Began Updates to the ASPERA-3 Data System Interface Document Began Formally Documenting APAF Software Requirements Continued Providing Technical Assistance for EPO Web Information Continued Defining and Implementing IDFS Web Tools Provided Software Support for ELS Characterization Attended Mars Express Data Archiving and Working Group Meeting (MEX DAWG) on June 19-20, 2000 at ESTEC Held monthly ASPERA-3 Software Status Meeting (June 22, 2000)

ASPERA-3 June 25, 00 Monthly Status Report ASPERA Monthly Status ReportMonthly 6_25/ Page 8 Planned Activities for the Next Month - ELS (Hopefully) receive flight sets 2 and 3 of the MCPs Receive high tolerance parts from Hyperfine. Begin high voltage and characterization testing of the ELS prototype. Possibly, begin stuffing flight HVPS and Amp boards Finalize test procedures.

ASPERA-3 June 25, 00 Monthly Status Report ASPERA Monthly Status ReportMonthly 6_25/ Page 9 Planned Activities for the Next Month - IMA Investigate MCP holder and make necessary modifications to prototype and flight / flight spare units. Begin stuffing Amp board and Digital Board. Fabricate a Pogo alignment fixture. Fix pogo alignment in prototype. Change out FPGA on prototype. Finalize test procedures. Restart vacuum testing prototype, following ELS prototype testing.

ASPERA-3 June 25, 00 Monthly Status Report ASPERA Monthly Status ReportMonthly 6_25/ Page 10 Planned Activities for the Next Month - Data Reduction Software Tasks Continue Discussions with PDS Concerning Project Data Management Plan Continue Updating Data System Interface Document as Necessary Continue Formally Documenting APAF Software Requirements Continue Providing Technical Assistance for EPO Web Information Continue Defining and Implementing IDFS Web Tools Provide Software Support for ELS Characterization if Needed

ASPERA-3 June 25, 00 Monthly Status Report ASPERA Monthly Status ReportMonthly 6_25/ Page 11 Problem and Concern Status Assembly Process for ELS with UV Coated Parts: We feel that this is resolved. We have fully assembled the prototype unit (several times) and have developed techniques, procedures, and fixtures to reliably assemble the flight units without touching the UV coating.

ASPERA-3 June 25, 00 Monthly Status Report ASPERA Monthly Status ReportMonthly 6_25/ Page 12 Problem and Concern Status (cont.) Delivery of MCP’s from Burle : This is still a major concern. We have received 2 sets of mechanical samples, 1 set of flight reject plates, and 1 set of plates that meet flight specs. The last delivery was the last of the material from that lot. We just contacted Burle and the next potential delivery will be July 14 for a maximum of 2 sets. It should be noted that the plates in this shipment have not yet started testing (which is where the drop-out has occurred). Our schedule is still not effected by the delivery slippage.

ASPERA-3 June 25, 00 Monthly Status Report ASPERA Monthly Status ReportMonthly 6_25/ Page 13 Problem and Concern Status (cont.) Alignment of ELS : This also looks like it has slipped. We have been in contact with a machine shop that Hyperfine is using for the rough machining of the ELS parts. It appears that they are running about 2 weeks late, putting delivery in the middle of July. We still have our fall back of using our in-house Model Shop (with the possible loss of mechanical tolerance) as a schedule workaround. We realize that we would need to discuss this decision with the Discovery Program Office before committing to the Model Shop. This decision will be made in the first week of July.

ASPERA-3 June 25, 00 Monthly Status Report ASPERA Monthly Status ReportMonthly 6_25/ Page 14 Problem and Concern Status (cont.) Alignment of Pogos in IMA : As mentioned, during prototype testing and subsequent inspection we found that 4 pogos were not correctly making electrical contact. We have since discussed this problem with other SwRI personnel who pointed out the need for an assembly tool that maintains not only the correct vertical spacing of the pogos, but also aligns them perpendicular to the PC board. We have started modifying our fixture to hold the pogos in place during the assembly and soldering process. We have also modified the assembly and test procedures to include resistance- to-ground measurements that will verify the electrical connection after assembly, and prior to and after each environmental test. We will keep this issue a concern until the prototype is corrected and the assembly procedure is verified.

ASPERA-3 June 25, 00 Monthly Status Report ASPERA Monthly Status ReportMonthly 6_25/ Page 15 Problem and Concern Status (cont.) MCP mount IMA : Also noted previously, during IMA prototype testing and subsequent inspection, we found that the MCP had developed cracks sometime after assembly. We have started an investigation into the cause of the cracks and are convinced that mount itself was the culprit. We suspect that the clamp located radially inward and the outside clamp put the MCP into a bending mode causing the cracks. This could be caused by tolerance stack up, glue under a spacer on the amp board, incorrectly dimensioned parts etc. At this time we do not know the cause but are in the process of going through the design and measuring the dimensions of the as-built pieces. This problem will of course remain open until the prototype is fixed and the unit undergoes environmental test.

ASPERA-3 June 25, 00 Monthly Status Report ASPERA Monthly Status ReportMonthly 6_25/ Page 16 Schedule Summary ELS: The June 2 nd version of the schedule shows that the flight HVPS is the critical path for ELS (-2 days of float). The assembly of the HVPS has been held up to complete vacuum high voltage testing of the ELS prototype which is now slated to start on June 28. This equates to an additional slip of 17 days for a total negative float of –19 days. This is a little bit of a pessimistic view: –Schedule still has 21 days slack at the end (DEL0050) in addition to float shown for each task –We also think that we can beat the time shown in the schedule for assembly and bench test (15 days each) to regain some of the float lost while waiting to get into the vacuum chamber. –We are also very concerned with the delivery of the housing from Hyperfine and delivery of the remaining flight MCPs from Burle. Neither of these activities is currently driving the schedule..

ASPERA-3 June 25, 00 Monthly Status Report ASPERA Monthly Status ReportMonthly 6_25/ Page 17 Schedule Summary (cont.) IMA: The IMA schedule still shows 19 days float, this is of course dependent on the MCP mount investigation. We feel that worst case however, we will only need to modify or remanufacture a small number of mechanical parts. This will occur in parallel with the stuffing of the amp and digital PC boards thus not effecting the schedule. Software activities continue to be on schedule. The full-up schedule is available on the ASPERA-3 Web site.full-up schedule

ASPERA-3 June 25, 00 Monthly Status Report ASPERA Monthly Status ReportMonthly 6_25/ Page 18 ASPERA-3 PHASE B/C/D MASTER SCHEDULE