Information on the Side Panels of the ACE Satellite

Function:

The side panels on ACE provide a home for the electronics and other systems that keep ACE running. These systems include:

• Power converters, for changing the energy generated by the solar panels into useable electricity;
• Batteries, for storing that energy;
• Electronics systems that coordinate when certain instruments are running (they don't all run continuously);
• Electronics systems that interpret the messages sent from Earth, which are received on the high- and low-gain antennas; as well as coding the messages that ACE sends back to Earth (streams of data from the nine instruments, as well as information on the spacecraft itself);
• Safety systems, like the Ordinance Fire component, which respond in the event of an emergency.

  The side panels also provide a housing for the propulsion system, which can be seen in two dimentions on the -Z panels which group 1 has assembled, and in the diagram to the right, an "exploded" view of ACE.

  Two instruments, CRIS and SWIMS, are attached to the side panels. They were placed on the side panels so that they could have the correct point of view towards the sun, as well as to conserve space on the crowded +Z (upper) deck.

On the real spacecraft, the side panels were actually slid into an octagonal framework (which you can see in the diagram), but that was somewhat impractical for this model.

Pictures:

You may click on each of the thumbnails (small images) for a larger picture.

-X view of ACE with thermal blankets	+Y view of ACE with thermal blankets	-Y view of ACE with thermal blankets
+X view of ACE with thermal blankets	-X view of ACE without thermal blankets	+X view of ACE without thermal blankets