Here are the minutes of our meeting yesterday -- please just reply with (or let me know) any corrections -- thanks!:
Phoning in: Arnold Gaertner (NRC-INMS), Max Fagin (Dartmouth/Harvard), Yorke Brown (Dartmouth/Harvard), Claire Cramer (NIST), Susana Deustua (STScI)
Yorke and Max updated us on the situation at Dartmouth. It is bitterly cold (-5 F) with over a foot of snow on the ground, and high winds blowing out over the Atlantic -- not exactly the best. However, Max will soon post the results of, and images from, the mountaintop-to-mountaintop test that was done in December, and they will try to do a new mountaintop-to-mountaintop test (with a ~40 km range rather than ~20 km) as soon as feasible. In the meantime, they have things to work on with flight control board updates, telescope tracking (which had some problems in the December mountaintop-to-mountaintop test), etc.
The three of us are iterating with Ocean Optics regarding the new fiber splitters (and we'll post a note with the schematics for them once Max, Yorke, and I are happy with them) -- the likely delivery for them will be in late January (we will most likely have to fly the old spheres until then, since the present fibers have fittings only for the old Thorlabs sphere). We do however have the new integrating spheres from Labsphere, and we'll find a way to get one of the new spheres up to Ottawa for Arnold soon, in order to continue getting ready for the goniometric calibrations there.
Regarding the new light sources, I called both World Star and U.S. Lasers yesterday. World Star is still working on quotes for us and promises to send the quotes this coming week. U.S. Lasers is still not entirely sure they will be able to bid on it, but will let us know either way next week.
We will determine readiness to proceed to Mt. Hopkins as soon as Yorke and Max, together with Will and Nina, are able to do the night observation flight. It will at one of the NIST full-moon slots this late winter or spring -- see e.g. http://lunaf.com/english/moon-phases/lunar-calendar-2013/ for a calendar of full moons this year.
On nanosat design, please send and/or post comments on Cordell's draft ICD, as well as his CAD drawings, as soon as possible. (I made a few comments on them to him via e-mail in December, others should please comment ASAP as well.)
On computing/website, James Hartwick has nearly finished with a beautiful Instrumentation page (http://projectaltair.org/page/instrumentation), and Spencer Bialek has updated the Flight Data page (http://projectaltair.org/page/flight_data) and is working on a timeline page for us. As usual, let us (Chris Tooley [ctooley@uvic.ca] and I) know if you see any issues that should be fixed.
On upcoming grant applications, I'll be talking with Steve Smith at SwRI this coming Tuesday regarding future collaboration for purposes of upcoming DND-NSERC application.
In other business -- Claire Cramer and Susana Deustua are off to the 2013 AAS meeting in Long Beach to give talks and chair sessions, and Claire is presenting our ALTAIR poster there. You can see the poster file at the bottom of our Talks & References page (http://projectaltair.org/page/talks_references).
That's all I remember -- please send things I forgot! Next meeting on Thurs., Jan. 17, at the new regular 11:00 Eastern time.
cheers, thanks all! justin
On Wed, 02 Jan 2013 23:25:37 GMT, Justin Albert wrote:
> Hi, > > Happy New Year! Telecon tomorrow (Thursday Jan. 3) at our *new* regular > time of 11:00 am Eastern time (8 am Pacific, 17.00 European). Discussion > items include: preparation for the next flight (night flight to finally > observe the source in real conditions for the first time), the next > light sources, goniometric calibration, nanosat design, website, and > flights beyond the upcoming flights. A reminder of the CSA project > timeline is attached. > > Here's the dial-in info: If you are calling in from Canada or U.S.: > 1. Dial Toll-Free Number: 866-740-1260 (U.S. & Canada) > 2. Enter 7-digit access code: 5082741 followed by the # > > If you are calling in from elsewhere: > 1. To locate International Toll-Free Numbers go to > http://www.readytalk.com/intl (enter 7-digit access code 5082741) > 2. Dial toll free number from web link > 3. Enter Passcode: Enter 7-digit ACCESS CODE: 5082741 followed by the # > > Here's the tentative agenda: > I) Flights > A) Preparation for next flight -- weather forecasts, etc > B) New light sources, new fiber splitters, and goniometric calibrations > C) Mt. Hopkins (& beyond) > II) Nanosat design: please post or send comments on Cordell's ICD (and CAD drawings)! > III) Computing & website > IV) Upcoming grant applications > V) AOB > > Talk to you all tomorrow! > justin > > Attachment: > http://projectaltair.org/HyperNews/get/AUX/2012/11/12/18.02-43361-Schedule-20120702_hqp.pdf >