Challenge 2.
The satellite is spinning out of control because the Attitude Determination and Control System,
ADCS, has been manipulated. We suspect sabotage. The challenge? Teams must repair the ADCS system
as quickly as possible to stop the dangerous spinning. Here's how they do it. Teams may
first search the provided documentation for the appropriate command to reset the ADCS.
They find it and execute it. But the reset does not work. The ADCS system begins communicating
again, but it is not functioning properly. Teams discover that the ADCS configuration tables have
been altered and must be restored. They have to find the nominal parameters for the configuration
tables from the provided user documentation. The teams then have to upload a new table to
the vehicle and command the ADCS to load the table. This is how they will restore nominal
operation of the ADCS. Good news! With the ADCS configuration table updated,
they receive nominal status from the ADCS, but the majority of the ADCS commands still don't work.
Teams realize that they can point the satellite by uploading various ADCS configuration tables
each with different pointing modes and configuration parameters and loading them
at different points in the orbit of the satellite. This allows the teams to stop the spin of the
vehicle and point the solar arrays at the sun to charge the batteries.