Son, Edward, making a living

1st of 3 kids e-mail from Edward, Jan 20,2011

A YouTube video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6s6al8U4Mu0 This is the kind of thing that I used to do when I physically built satellites. I did the mechanical part, not the electrical parts, so although John Wirth, of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, tests the electronics, even before it is all mechanically put together; I would physically put together the satellite, including the electrical connector mates. The wiring looked similar in that it was all in bundled harnesses, but the satellites I built didn’t have wheels. Just like John, I worked in a big clean room while wearing a “bunny suit” and had to plug in my own grounding wrist strap every time I approached anything with electronics or electrical boxes installed. Since I had a beard, I also had to wear a face mask, as John does. Notice also that everyone wears plastic gloves (which are taped to their sleeves). In the two minute video, John describes a “side by side” electrical test. Before going to the time and expense of putting the payload (experiments) onto the chassis, we hook up the electronics between the two, while they are side by side to each other, and make sure that they really work together. Before they are assembled together is a good time to fix any problems, because anything that is causing trouble is easily accessible for removal and repair. Once they are assembled together, problems can take longer to fix, because it can take a lot of time and trouble to remove the part that is the problem. Now, I use my experiences from building and testing satellites to write the procedures used by other people to build and test the satellites that we are making now. Be Good -ET