Opal Weekly Update -- June 11, 1999

1. For those of you who haven't heard, Opal was delivered successfully    to Weber State University on May 14, 1999.  It was hand carried by Greg Hutchins and Jamie Cutler on a Delta plane to Utah.  An extra seat was purchased and Opal was strapped in by the window.  Delivery went smoothly and all systems checked out on arrival.
2. Another past note.  A week later Prof. Twiggs and Jamie Cutler traveled to Utah to meet Adelia Valdez from the Artemis picosatellite team and David Hinkley from Aerospace to install flight picosats.  Installation of the picosatellites was successful.  Also, a remote ground station was installed at Weber to continue operational testing of Opal.  Opal operated as expected for 21 days until power was disconnected for the moments of inertia test.
3. On June 11, Weber finished the moments of inertia test on all JAWSAT payloads.  Opal required a second spin because of loosened springs on the table. Other than this the spinning went without a hitch.
4. Bolt on integration of Opal to JAWSAT begins on June 22, 1999.
5. We're still expecting Aerospace to want to upload code to their flight picosatellites.  This will likely happen next week.
6. Expected launch is September 15, 1999.