Hayadan > Not a single screw in the Dokifat 2 satellite was screwed in by an adult, and not a single line of code was written by an adult

Not a single screw in the Dokifat 2 satellite was screwed in by an adult, and not a single line of code was written by an adult

This is what Sharon Mashal, coordinator of the satellite and space program at the Herzliya Science Center, says in preparation for the launch of the satellite next week. Children from Herzliya together with children from Maofakim, Yeruham, the Bedouin Diaspora and Ofra developed the satellite components in groups, wrote software, tested the components and more

Almost three years after the successful launch of the student satellite Dokifat 1, which was developed entirely by high school students from the Science Center in Herzliya, next week the second generation satellite - Dokifat 2 will be launched. This time the satellite is part of the European Union's QB50 mission, which is designed to launch 50 nanosatellites, almost all of them except Dokifat 2 were developed by students and various research institutes in the world. The unique project, which is being conducted at the Herzliya Science Center, is being carried out with the support of the Israel Space Agency, the Municipality of Herzliya and the Mabat Halal plant in the Aerospace Industry.

Sharon Mashal, coordinator of the satellites and space course at the Herzliya Science Center, tells about the children's investment: "Work on Dokifat 2 started already two and a half years ago. The students worked hard, especially in the summer months, day and night. The lab was almost never closed. They invested all their energy in the satellite, performed long hours of testing, wrote software, tested it, conducted environmental conditions tests with the help of facilities of the aerospace industry, and performed communication experiments with real satellites. It's all children's work. The team of instructors and engineers, coming from the aerospace industry and the academy guided and guided them... but in the end there is not a single line of software written by adults, not a single test - that was not done by students."

Yeruham - the mechanical planning team
Five groups working under the auspices of the Science Center are working on the satellite, but the students who participated in them study in peripheral communities.
A group of religious girls from the Yeruham Science Center in Yeruham were responsible for all the mechanical planning: the dimensions of the satellite, mass distribution, the location of the various components in the satellite, the construction of a test box that must also be compatible with the testing facilities of the Aerospace Industry. Other teams such as the thermodynamics team were based on the mechanical design. Long before the arrival of the satellite, they were already working on the plans and even found mistakes in the manufacturer's documents and had a dialogue with the project manager and the manufacturer. Very high level work

Ofra studio - the direction control team

"A group of girls from the Ofra studio were responsible for the satellite's direction control system," Meshal says.

Due to the satellite's scientific mission, a system is required that can stabilize and correct the direction of the satellite in orbit. It is a very complicated, complex, and expensive system. The group of girls from the Ofra studio are responsible for the system's algorithm and its proper functioning. They will also operate the system in real time and will have to make sure that the necessary repairs are indeed carried out by the satellite in space."

Ahad - in the mission control center
A group from a completely different sector is the students of the Ahad school in the settlement of Hora in the Negev - a school of excellence for the Bedouin diaspora in the Negev.
A mixed group of boys and girls was in charge of the mission control center. The students are part of a leading group in the field of computer science and software and they were responsible for developing software for decoding and presenting the data that the satellite will transmit. For the purposes of the exercises and the simulation, they tested their system on other satellites such as Dokifat 1. They made the interface online, so that you can connect to it from anywhere in the world and see graphic data that displays real-time information about the satellite's status, and of course the option to search the database and display the status of the satellite in any time that is

Ofakim - environmental control

The Ofakim group students were responsible for testing the satellite's environmental conditions. When it is launched into space and during its stay in space, the satellite is exposed to extreme conditions of radiation, temperature, noise, vibrations, therefore it is necessary to make sure that the satellite is resistant to all these factors so that it can survive the launch and function in space. It was necessary to prepare for all the tests, and Ofakim Group managed the process with the Aerospace Industry"

Herzliya: communication, software, electricity and scientific cargo

Students from the Herzliya Science Center were responsible for project management and coordination between the different groups. The process of building the satellite is done in the clean room in Herzliya, which is maintained and managed by the students.

"Even in Herzliya, work is divided into professional work teams:

Communications team - responsible for the ground segment and the airborne segment, a ground station for receiving the satellite and also for receiving additional satellites. The team members adapted the satellite's system requirements to the requirements and tested the functionality. They are also responsible for being able to receive and transmit to the satellite.

Software team - responsible for writing the satellite software, coordination between the various subsystems in the satellite, logic and algorithms for the management of the satellite: "The students wrote algorithms and managed the logic of the satellite, video, the correctness of the situations in order to ensure that the satellite can work optimally in space."

Electrical team - Mashal added that "the students in the electrical team are responsible for budgeting the energy of the satellite, that is, making sure that all the components can receive the energy needed for their activity, both day and night, writing algorithms for the management of the satellite that will ensure that the satellite will not choke on life." If we are at night and there is not enough power, they will only activate the systems that are essential for the survival of the satellite. When the satellite is illuminated by sunlight and absorbs energy, it is possible to carry out communication, measurements, download data and more."
The thermodynamics team - also included students from Herzliya who are responsible for the heat dissipation in the satellite, in the space of the very extreme environment to make sure that one side does not get very hot and the other side gets very cold because then the components will not work."

The highlight of each satellite is the dedicated payload (carrier). The scientific mission of the satellite (and of all its other cast members) is to measure the plasma density in the thermosphere, a layer that starts at an altitude of 90 km and reaches an altitude of 400 km - where many satellites operate, including the International Space Station.

Being launched from the International Space Station, the satellite will start from an altitude of 400 kilometers and slowly decay to an altitude of 90 kilometers. Although the atmosphere in this layer is extremely thin, it contains plasma - a gas with an electrical charge, which comes mainly from the solar wind. This plasma causes communication disruptions, problems with GPS reception and more, but for some reason these free electrons have not yet been mapped.

The members of the scientific mission team had to study in depth the measuring instruments - the sensors on the satellite, to integrate them both mechanically and functionally into the satellite. In the future, their role is also to receive the scientific data together with the media team and process it.

The last team is an integration team responsible for integrating all the different subsystems and making sure they communicate with each other, both mechanically and electrically. Their job is to make sure that we manage to transfer orders from system to system, test and assemble all the sub-systems into a satellite that is one complete and functioning system.

In conclusion, Mashal says: "Dr. Meir Ariel, the director of the science center, always says that the satellite does not know that the students are building it and does not give us discounts because it is an educational project. In the end we have to meet the highest standard of the European Union. Although the Israeli satellite is the only one built by students - all the rest were built by scientists and researchers, we were still required to meet all the goals and the highest standards of the industry."

Awaiting launch

"Out of all the dozens of European Union teams, Duchifat 2 is the tenth satellite that reached the finish line intact, tested, working, functioning and ready for launch. Many teams did not reach this stage and were disqualified along the way."

One of the center's prides is the fact that students from different sectors of society worked together. "The students cooperate and work very well with each other. Students who come from completely different backgrounds and cultures - religious girls are trained together with Bedouin children and children from Herzliya, which is also a diverse population. Science unites," Mashal said

More on the subject on the science website