July 2007: Orbital Express mission success! Launched March 11, 2007, the Orbital Express mission demonstrated autonomous rendezvous and robotic spacecraft interactions for the NextSat and Astro spacecraft. The attitude control interface electronics board for NextSat was designed, analyzed, and bench tested by Creative Circuitry.
July 2005: Deep Impact mission success! The Deep Impact flyby spacecraft and impactor probe performed flawlessly in their mission to impact and observe comet Tempel-1. Creative Circuitry performed worst-case circuit analysis for the Thermal Interface Board, Network Interface Card, Thruster Drivers, and Command and Telemetry Board.
November 2004: Swift Launched! Swift is a NASA Midex mission to study Gamma Ray Bursts. The Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) detector arrays are being sequentially activated before instrument commissioning can begin. The Power Converter Box (PCB) controls BAT instrument and heater power, and provides housekeeping telemetry. The PCB was tested and verified with EGSE designed by Creative Circuitry. Swift is managed by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.
September 2004: Genesis, a mission managed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory with their industrial partner, Lockheed Martin Space Systems, impacted on the Utah test range when its recovery system and parachute failed to deploy. Contingency measures are in process to salvage the solar wind samples without any further contamination.
April 2004: Genesis has closed shop and is headed home! The Genesis spacecraft has completed its mission of collecting pieces of the sun and has stowed the collectors for the return trip from L1 back to Earth. The concentrator high voltage power supplies and control electronics have been turned off. The sample return capsule is closed and locked in preparation for return to Earth. The Genesis sample return capsule will re-enter Earth’s atmosphere in September 2004 for a dramatic in-air parachute recovery over Utah. The electron and ion monitors will continue to collect solar wind data until return of the spacecraft in September.
March 2004: Rosetta launched! Rosetta contains a suite of plasma instruments called the RPC (Rosetta Plasma Consortium) to study a comet’s local space plasma environment. One of these instruments, the ICA (Ion Composition Analyzer), uses a copy of the front-end electronics from the IMA (Ion Mass Analyzer) instrument developed for ASPERA-3 on the Mars Express spacecraft. ICA is developed and managed by the Swedish Institute of Space Physics. Rosetta is an ESA mission to comet Comet 67P/Churyumov- Gerasimenko .
January 2004: Recent data received from the Mars Express spacecraft indicate that the Aspera-3 (Analyzer of Space Plasma and Energetic Atoms) instrument suite is performing well. Both IMA (ion mass analyzer) and ELS (electron spectrometer) have acquired data from Mars solar wind/sheath and planetary wind/outflow indicating good measurement performance. Further calibrations of the instruments are ongoing and should continue through February. Aspera-3 is developed and managed by the Swedish Institute of Space Physics. Mars Express is an ESA mission to Mars launched on June 2, 2003.
June 2003: Mars Express launched! Front-end electronics designed by Creative Circuitry are used in the electron spectrometer (ELS) and ion mass analyzer (IMA) instruments. These instruments are part of the Aspera-3 instrument suite, which is designed to study the space plasma environment of Mars. The Aspera-3 (Analyzer of Space Plasma and Energetic Atoms) project was developed and managed by the Swedish Institute of Space Physics. Mars Express is an ESA mission to Mars launched on June 2, 2003.
February 2003: Genesis GEM, GIM, and CEBs - Genesis has reached its halfway point! Operating with command and data handling electronics designed by Creative Circuitry, the Genesis electron (GEM) and ion (GIM) monitors, and the concentrator electronics boxes (CEBs) continue their solar wind measurement and data collection activities. Genesis is a NASA Discovery mission designed to collect samples of solar material for return to Earth. Genesis was launched on August 8, 2001.
February 2003: New Horizons Persi-Alice LVPS – The engineering model low voltage power system (LVPS) has been integrated with the C&DH computer for checkout. New Horizons is a NASA Discovery mission to Pluto. Launch is scheduled for 2006.
December 2002: Swift Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) Power Converter Box – The electrical ground support equipment (EGSE) final checkout and testing is complete. The EGSE was integrated with the Power Converter Box for flight-testing. Swift is a NASA Midex mission to study cosmic gamma ray sources. Launch is scheduled for 2004.