Monthly 4_25/ Page 1

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Monthly Status Report Report due 4/25/00 Schedule
statused as of April 7, 2000
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Project Status Summary

• Technical
• Feb Mar Apr

Programmatic Feb Mar Apr
Schedule Feb Mar Apr
Resources Feb Mar Apr
Detailed Description (for items identified as
yellow or red)

• 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.

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Problem and Concern Summary
PProblem CConcern RResolved
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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.

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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.

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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.

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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)

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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.

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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.

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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

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Problem and Concern Status

• Getting final contract in Place by March 1, 2000
  (now April 1 2000)
• The contract is now in place. We will now start
  to get our subcontracts in place with outside
  vendors (Burle, MSSL) and CoIs.
• 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.

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Problem and Concern Status (cont.)

• . Delivery of MCPs 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.

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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.

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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.

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ASPERA-3 PHASE B/C/D MASTER SCHEDULE