Facilities
Fabrication, integration, and testing are critical phases of any mission. SSPL is focused on both developing in-house facilities to meet these needs and on extending our capabilities by partnering with other organizations on the Penn State campus.
The Infrastructure Development Program is tasked with developing new capabilities to meet the needs of future missions.
The following are current facilities that are within SSPL or facilities that SSPL students have access to:
Anechoic Chamber
The 10 foot x 20 foot anechoic chamber allows for the testing and verification of antenna designs.
Center for Engineering Design and Entrepreneurship (CEDE)
CEDE is a flexible facility for students to develop their technical and professional skills through design based learning. The Center fosters collaboration between engineering and business colleges in partnership with industry to use the enter’s facilities to design, construct and test engineering solutions to actual problems. The Center also supports critical software tools, hardware, computer networks, and data/audio/video conferencing technologies for collaboration and design.
Model Shop:
Two Computer Classrooms
Three Flexible Technology Classrooms
Two Design Studios
Clean Room
11-foot by 13-foot, Class 100,000 clean room used for assembling student spacecraft.
Collaboration Tools
Communications and Space Sciences Laboratory
The Communications and Space Sciences Laboratory (CSSL) is an interdisciplinary and intercollege component of Penn State’s Department of Electrical Engineering. Founded in 1949 by Arthur H. Waynick as the Ionosphere Research Laboratory (IRL), it became the Communications and Space Sciences Laboratory in 1985 because of the diversity of its research activities.
CSSL educational and research activities center on electromagnetic (EM) phenomena either directly or as tools for probing the structure and dynamics of the atmosphere and ionosphere. For example, we are using a variety of radar, lidar, radiometer, and rocket-borne probing techniques to investigate atmospheric and ionospheric processes and coupling between atmospheric regions. Much of the instrumentation is conceived, designed, and built in-house. CSSL is also concerned with the study of EM phenomena, such as pulse propagation and scattering in a variety of media, and with the design of antennas. We utilize an array of computer codes to study EM processes and to visualize these and other processes.
Bernard M. Gordon Learning Factory (Machine Shop)
“The Bernard M. Gordon Learning Factory is a hands-on learning facility of the College of Engineering. Occupying 3500 sq.ft on the west campus, it provides state of the art manufacturing and prototyping facilities. Its mission is to help students develop common sense, and gain practical experience in the art of engineering. It is used by over 2000 students annually.”
Almost all of the student-built structure and mechanisms for past projects were machined at the Bernard M. Gordon Learning Factory. It continues to be a valuable asset to future projects. Its capabilities are as follows:
Machining:
| Welding: | Rapid Prototyping: | Assembly/Test: |
Sheet Metal Forming – 48″ shear, brake, roller
Stock Cutoff and Grinding
– cutoff saw, Powermatic band saw, Wilton belt sander, pedestal grinder, surface grinder, bead blaster
PCB Fabrication
While most flight Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs) are contracted to a PCB manufacturer, multiple PCB prototyping systems allow for quick prototypes before going to final production. SSPL uses the Quick Circuit 5000 Prototyping System with the following specifications:
Quick Circuit 5000 Prototyping System
Satellite Ground Station
The Lab is developing its own satellite tracking ground station. The ground station is being built from the ground up entirely by students. Currently, the lab possesses one tracking parabolic antenna and is in the final stages of acquiring three radome SeaTel antenna. With these resources available, Penn State can network with other universities within the United State as well as Europe, in becoming a very powerful node in network of ground stations. The ground station network provides an opportunity for each node to track and receive data from university and professional satellites.
Thermal Cycling
Temperature Chamber
Vacuum Chamber System
Vacuum Chamber
Ultra-Low Temp Recirculation
Plasma Source