Home
Welcome to the Mimic wiki!
ISS MIMIC is a 1:100 scale articulating model of the International Space Station that runs off of live data streaming from the real ISS.
It is made from 3D printed truss elements, crew modules, radiators, solar arrays, and visiting vehicles. It is open source and uses familiar STEM components like Arduino and Raspberry Pi and was designed to be built by students.
ISS is always moving - and so is ISS MIMIC. The Solar Arrays move to track the sun and keep the batteries charged - the Beta Gimbal Assemblies (BGAs) spin the arrays. The ends of the truss also need to rotate so that the arrays can rotate about the truss - the Solar Array Rotary Joint (SARJ) allows the outboard truss to spin. We even use slip rings to allow the wires to still connect to the outboard truss segments while they are spinning.
Raspberry Pi drives our touchscreen User Interface, receives the NASA live data stream, and sends commands to the Arduinos. The Arduinos drive the Solar Array BGAs, the SARJ rings, and the radiators to the exact position of the real Space Station. Arduino also controls a series of LEDs that show the charge status of the Solar arrays and all LEDS in the modules that will expand to respond to user input.
But that isn't all ISS MIMIC does. The User Interface has lots of screens (and more coming) that allow you to interact with the rest of the ISS data that is in the live stream and other neat information about how the Space Station works, live Extra-vehicular Activity (EVAs), and how the crew works on the space station.
coming soon
//ISS\ // MIMIC \