Here are the minutes of our meeting yesterday --- please just reply with (or let me know) any corrections -- thanks!:
Phoning in: Yorke Brown (Dartmouth & Harvard), Max Fagin (Dartmouth & Harvard), Cordell Grant (Toronto SFL), Keith Vanderlinde (Toronto)
Yorke and Max presented the flight-readiness status: they intend to do a tethered-balloon "full dress rehearsal" this weekend, and if things go well with that, then they believe we should be flying by the first week of June at the latest. All PC boards and components are now fully populated and wired (with the exception of the RF beacon that is replacing the Emergency Locator Transmitter (ELT) that we used to use, to avoid using that frequency -- Will is working on finishing that little board up -- it is not needed for the tethered balloon test).
Two other successful flights have happened recently: James Forbes and his McHAB group had a very successful launch from outside Montreal last week (there will be more info about that, from James et al, soon); and GreenCube 6 had a very successful flight on Sunday in NH, as reported by Max (GreenCube can be considered to be our balloon-flight-infrastructure-forefather project -- see http://www.dartmouth.edu/~aurora/greencube.html), the latter with a Geiger counter PC board that was made at UVic strapped onto it -- we'll get the Geiger counter data when the board returns to Victoria after either Karun or I or both of us are able to get out to NH (and/or Mt. Hopkins) in late June.
For goniometric calibrations, Karun is in Japan at an SDSS-4 meeting -- he returns this weekend -- but things are progressing well with the pre- and post-flight calibration-check box and the optical bench test setup. And at NRC-INMS, Arnold's spectrophotometer for the goniometric calibrations is in use right now, but we'll be able to start using that later this summer.
Cordell is proceeding with nanosat design next steps, including payload and power supply specs, and will have occasional questions for us regarding those over the next weeks.
On computing/website, things appear stable -- please just either post a note or let me know if any fixes or changes are needed.
On upcoming grant applications, I got a call from Patrick Gavigan at DRDC Ottawa this past week -- he noted that there are extreme constraints on DRDC right now, and they are going through a cycle of "figuring out what to pursue next," but he would definitely talk to colleagues at DRDC Ottawa about our topics and let people know to contact me or us, and that our work is certainly a general topic of interest for DRDC. The DND-NSERC program is still, at this point, likely the best angle for us to pursue -- it's considered a matching rather than a competitive program, so that if good industrial partners (and contributions) are found, and all the rules are followed, then there is nearly a 100% success rate in that program -- so on Monday I'll be talking with Afzal about industry partners etc., and then we'll move forward from there.
In other business, Keith reports that things are going well with the microwave payload, and that he met with James Forbes and James' MEng student last week -- they (as reported above) had a very successful McHAB flight.
That's all I remember. Please send things I forgot. Next meeting on Thurs., Jun. 6, at the regular 11:00 Eastern time.
cheers, thanks all! justin
On Wed, 22 May 2013 23:02:58 GMT, Justin Albert wrote:
> Hi, > > Telecon tomorrow (Thursday May 23) at our regular time of 11:00 am > Eastern time (8 am Pacific, 17.00 European). Discussion items include: > upcoming flight plan, flight control board status, gondola flight > systems tests, goniometric calibration, pre- and post-flight > calibration, nanosat design, computing/website, preparation for upcoming > grant applications, and flights beyond the next flight. 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) Ongoing work at Dartmouth -- preparation for flight > II) Pre- and post-flight calibration and goniometric calibrations > III) Flight plans this spring > IV) Nanosat design: post or send comments on Cordell's ICD (and CAD drawings) > V) Computing/website > VI) Upcoming grant application status > VII) AOB > > Talk to you all tomorrow! > justin > > Attachments: > http://projectaltair.org/HyperNews/get/AUX/2012/11/12/18.02-43361-Schedule-20120702_hqp.pdf >