Honeywell engineers have also spent hours meeting privately with ASUSat 1 students to discuss design issues. The commercial interests of Honeywell's Satellite Systems Operation cover all 11 of ASUSat 1's subsystems to some extent. We're always interested in new things for satellites and the trend toward smaller satellites. The idea of putting a 10-pound working satellite into space is so extreme, Honeywell's engineers laughed the first time they heard it. But they soon became intrigued.
Engineers usually start with a well-defined mission and then design a satellite to support it.
Do as much as you can. About 30 local industry engineers showed up to trouble- shoot at each of ASUSat 1's four formal design reviews over the past 18 months. Each review lasted from four to eight hours as program manager Rademacher and the subsystems team leaders presented their designs. The industry group's advice and criticisms have guided the satellite's development nearly every step of the way. The students actually have designed two satellites since the project's first meeting on Oct. 13, 1993.