Mission engineers prepare the first CYGNSS satellite for radio frequency testing at the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas.
Mission engineers prepare the first of eight CYGNSS satellites for radio frequency (RF) testing at the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas. The RF system, part of the Command and Data Handling subsystem onboard each satellite, receives commands from and downlinks spacecraft engineering and science data to the Mission Operations Center (MOC), housed at SwRI’s Boulder, Colo., location. CYGNSS radio communications will use Universal Space Network (USN) ground stations to transmit data and commands to and from the MOC. USN RF compatibility testing is scheduled for next week.