---

Promould in Heinenoord has finished producing the moulds for the body, and after some delay the moulds are finally in our possession.

The moulds are negatives of the final hull shape and made out of PU-foam. Before we can use the moulds to produce the hull they must be sanded first, followed by waxing with epoxy. A nice job for next week.

---

Last week a sample has been made for the skin to get some experience with vacuum infusion, all this with the help of François Geuskens who has gained extensive practical experience with it at WASUB.

Today the produced sample has been placed in the oven for curing, and later this week we will add an adhesive joint to the sample. Frans van Oostrum, who works in the Aerospace Structures and Materials Laboratory, will help us with anodising of the sample, and Jeroen Hofstede from the Adhension Institute has offered his knowledge and experience.
If the constructing of the sample works out fine, we will place it in the water for some time to see its reaction on water.

Of course some nice pictures were made of the process, see our multimedia page for an impression.

---

The movie of the working fin, in the test-rig, is uploaded. See the multimedia page and click on the link.

---

Today Archie Shaw-Stewart of Wireless Fibre Systems (WFS) flew in from Scotland to prepare the test with their underwater modem. Archie is the person from WFS that got the task to successfully implement their modem into our Galatea-project.
At first of course it was just a personal acquaintance with us and our project. After that we gone through the technical demands and specifications of the modem. Last Archie made Background Noise measurements in the communal swimmingpool, where the first tests with the modem will be done.

---

Due to the beauty of the Galatea-project many student want to join, and two of these student are now added to the team: Joost Venrooij and Tim Vercruyssen.

At this very moment some preliminary meetings have been arranged with the Aerodynamics chair of the faculty, because three team members are considering the possibilty the graduate on the project. Soon more about this.

---

It has cost us some trouble, but an important milestone has been reached. After the test-rig had been joined with the laptop and some cautious movements had been made through the water, it was time to make the first serious waves with the fin. Immediately the first attempt is successful. The complete test-rig rolls smoothly forwards over the rails and in doing so our fin seems to be working. This first test has showed us some minor points of improvement, which will be looked in to in the next few days, but for now the first test results can be called extremely positive!

---

We have started putting together our swimming pool this afternoon in the so called 'wet room' of the Aerospace Structures and Materials Laboratory. The swimming pool will be used for the propulsion test and is made of thin plastic foil hanging in a plastic frame. The size is approximately 1,50m (4,92 feet) * 2,50m (8,20 feet) and the maximum depths is about 50cm (1,64 feet).
The metal rail system, carrying the test-rig, has been placed on the bottom and with the help of a dozen garden hoses we have started filling up the pool. After about an hour and a half the pool contained 2000 litres (3.519,51 pints). The test-rig has been placed over the pool, but the actual testing has been postponed till tomorrow.

---

Over the last few weeks a part of the team has been busy with the production of the test-rig for the fin-propulsion. After assembling the last axes and fine-tuning the software, the test-rig now seems to be ready to be placed above the pool. The next phase will be assembling the pool itself and placing the rail system in it, on which the test-rig is supposed to be moving itself.

---

Through the site www.modelbouwforum.nl, on which we had already found useful information, we have come in contact with Ronald van Aalst, a specialist in building miniature submarines.

Regardless the experience within the team, it appears that pretty often it is impossible to translate theory to reality just like that. In these situations the specific experience of Ronald might help us. Last sunday we went with a small delegation to Ronald in Wateringen for an acquaintance. It was a pleasant and informative visit. There is no doubt we will keep contact.

---

The Royal Dutch Navy is very enthusiastic over the Galatea-project and share the opinion that knowledge development in the area of AUV's in the Netherlands is extremely important. Therefore the Navy invited the Galatea-team to visit the Duik- en Demontage Groep in Den Helder, who have their own Dutch AUV's, the Remus100.

After an explanation on the construction, sensor-suite and upcoming upgrades on the AUV's, we had an extensive session in which the, for the Navy, important issues were treated. Mainly it was about the necessary software to program missions, mission control and processing obtained information.

At the end we got a tour through the diving-school and the diving medical centre, a component especially appreciated by the sports divers of the group.

---

Last Friday Hans en Michiel travelled to Enschede to give a presentation at Xsens on the Galatea-project and the part their MTi Attitude Heading and Reference Sensor (AHRS) has in it.
The reception by Rob Löhring was very enthousiastic. Besides the Galatea-presentation, there also was an interesting presentation by Xsens about their company, products, applications and future plans.

In the mean time Jouke and Michiel have set to work with our own MTi, getting to know and understand the sensor. Subsequently they will integrate the AHRS in the larger system.

---

The visualisation measurements have succeeded. We have gained some wonderful pictures and numerous perspectives. The next fase regarding aerodynamics has started now with processing all measurement data. On the basis of these results the model will be slightly adjusted if necessary.

The propulsion group lately also makes considerable progress. The test-rig is nearing completion and thus it's almost possible to start testing in our resently purchased swimming pool. Yesterday evening, and at the multimedia page, the first wave was to be seen in the test-rig. More on this is soon to come, together with lots of pictures.

The last striking news is that our MTI-sensor from Xsens will be delivered today, according to webtracking by UPS.

---

The first measurement session is finished. After the usual starting perils and problems we could finally start on wednesday with actually accomplishing the measurements. The measuring work all went smoothly, at the end we even had some time left to do the most important measurements again with a more precise measuremnet grid.

The planned visualisation measurement, a measurement at which the model will be rubbed in with a fluorescending liquid, could unfortunately not take place, because the model absorbed the liquid and in doing so did not show a good flowing pattern. Next week therefore the model will be painted and in the following week the visualisation measurement will be done again, hopefully with beautiful results.

Please do not forget to check the multimedia page and look at the photos!

---

After a whole week of sanding the windtunnel model to get it as smooth as possible, yesterday, thursday, it has been hanged in a free-standing measuring section of the wind tunnel. Tuesday next week this free-standing section will acually be placed in the windtunnel and we will be able to start a three day maesuring session.

To already get a small impression, check multimedia page for a short movie.

---

The windtunnel model has been delivered last week by our friends from 3D-printexpert!
Mr Westrup has given us a handsome piece of work and the first reactions were extremely positive.

Naturally the rough product needs to be worked on, something we are busy with as we speak. At present we have already finished the build-in pieces and are now revising the skin. The overlapping pieces now join up seamless. Subsequently the skin needs to be made as smooth as glass and maybe even varnished. The suspensions are ready too. Jouke is fine-tuning the control of the servo's. Furthermore we are busy criticaly looking at our measuring plan for the last time. In doing so, we will be ready in time to build in the model in its section and adjusting everything, before we will actually start testing from tuesday March 25th till thursday March 27th.

---

Yesterday, Tuesday March 4th, the second KBG and SupportGroup meeting had been scheduled.
The large turnout confirmed what we had noticed in our contact with companies and suppliers, there is a lot of interest and a broad basis for our Galatea-project. The team gave a presentation and update on the various parts of the project. Among lots of positive reactions, we also recieved useful and instructive input from the audience. We therefore thank everyone for their shared expertise and would like to see you again at our next meeting.

---

After some start-up problems with finding a suitable workshop, we now work very hard on our test-rig for the propulsion tests. Because this is what the Galatea-project distinguishes from other AUV's, we are doing this extremely thorough. As a temporary solution we have been working in the workshop of the group Experimental Zoölogy of the WUR in Wageningen University and Research Centre. We were recieved there with open arms and spend many hours with milling, working with the lathe and so on. Meanwhile we have found a logistic more suitable solution. We are now able to finish our testsetting in Delft.

---

The CATIA drawings of third and final version of the windtunnel model are finished and the upcomming week the model itself will be produced using Rapid-Prototyping techniques.

---

Finally the problems with logging onto the server are solved and it is possible to update the website. Meanwhile a lot has happended, so soon we will update the site with photo's and a lot of info.
Worth mentioning is the opportunity the team has to work at the Experimental Zoölogy department of the Wageningen University and Research Centre. Now the team is finally able to start constructing the test-rig.

---

Some minor website updates.

---

The Site is online, B'vo ! Still a little bit empty, but we are working on that.