IDCWTRIN, JPS

Mission system: SOCS

Challenge: NASA required payloads to act like early-stage planetary probes assessing their environment. After the rocket landed in an unknown orientation, the payload had to wait for and decode specific Radio Frequency Commands (RAFCO) sent from a remote ground station. Based on those commands, the payload had to determine its spatial orientation and capture clear photographs of the surrounding terrain to send back to the team.

Design/Execution: The payload was named SOCS (Surrounding Optics and Communication System). SOCS consisted of a RAFCO (Radio Frequency Command) receiver and a camera system mounted in the fin can of the launch vehicle under transparent teardrop-shaped camera housings. The system was designed to receive RAFCO commands transmitted over APRS from the ground station. These commands consisted of camera controls and editing instructions to be interpreted and carried out within 30 seconds of receipt. The camera system consisted of four cameras mounted to four servos, attached directly to the primary payload computer, enabling 360-degree rotation around an axis normal to the ground. The onboard computer interpreted the RAFCO commands and directed the servo-actuated camera to capture the required environmental photograph. The resulting image was saved to onboard storage.

Two weeks before the competition, a catastrophic motor failure (CATO) destroyed the launch vehicle and the original SOCS hardware. The team executed a complete rebuild of the payload electronics and housing in time for the Huntsville launch. During the competition flight, the payload landed safely and the recovery system performed as intended. The RAFCO signal was successfully received, the IMU-derived orientation was calculated, and the required environmental photographs were captured.