Here are the minutes of our meeting earlier today --- please just reply with (or let me know) any corrections -- thanks!:
Phoning in: Susana Deustua (STScI), Yorke Brown (Dartmouth & Harvard), Max Fagin (Dartmouth & Harvard), Cordell Grant (Toronto SFL) -- regrets: Arnold Gaertner (NRC-INMS)
Yorke and Max gave us the debriefing on the flight yesterday: a short flight to test the steerable parafoil, to keep us from landing in trees. Launch and cutdown went perfectly, however after that there were two issues (at least) -- the control software crashed (more than once), which Yorke believes is due to a set of verification checks that were removed late Tuesday night before the flight; and the windlass that controls both the parafoil steering and the cutdown ended up in a configuration in which it shouldn't have ended up. Yorke believes he may have already fixed the software issues, and Yorke and Max will work on figuring out hardware issues with the windlass. It would be good, clearly, to find a way to at least partially test these fixes in situ before doing another test flight (to avoid using a balloon+helium, plus challenge of recovery), but hopefully both issues can be fixed and we can fly again very soon (perhaps either on Sunday, or next week after the bad weather passes). (If and when possible, it would also perhaps be good to keep the source code for the control software in some publicly-viewable spot, so folks off-site might be able to get familiar with it, and also conceivably spot issues -- most likely not urgent, but a very good thing for the future.)
For the goniometric and pre- and post-flight calibrations, Karun is working through some LabView certificate issues, and he will hopefully have those solved soon so that we can take some data with the local setup. Arnold had to send his regrets for this meeting as he is away this week, but will be back soon, and we'll hopefully be able to get started with the goniometric calibration setup at NRC this summer. Karun will travel to NH later this month for flight tests with Yorke -- we'll work out exact dates etc. over the next few days.
Cordell is proceeding with nanosat design next steps, and is working on finding a student to help him out this summer -- he'll 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, our colleague Afzal Suleman in the MechE department here suggested we consider the NSERC Strategic grant programs rather than DND-NSERC, as the DND-NSERC program requires matching cash funds from a Canadian company or companies, however the deadlines for the Strategic programs have passed this year, and anyway the "Strategic areas" that they focused on this year were not very good for us at all. Thus, the proposal is that we still do a DND-NSERC proposal, but a far smaller one, just for the next set of lasers from World Star Tech -- then we have a Canadian company who I believe will likely be able to provide us with the full matching cash funds (in the form of a quote on the new equipment, and then a 33% price break). This would be a small proposal, on the order of $15k - $20k, and would only get us equipment rather than personnel/travel etc, but certainly better than nothing. I'll talk with World Star about it early next week, and then I could write it up. As Karun and Susana mention, we might perhaps be able to get some InGaAs detectors out of it as well, in order to start to extend us into the near IR.
That's all I remember. Please send things I forgot. Next meeting on Thurs., Jun. 20, at the regular 11:00 Eastern time.
cheers, thanks all! justin
On Wed, 05 Jun 2013 22:31:57 GMT, Justin Albert wrote:
> Hi, > > Telecon tomorrow (Thursday June 6) at our regular time of 11:00 am > Eastern time (8 am Pacific, 17.00 European). Discussion items include: > flight report / debriefing from the NH test flight today (!), > software/firmware and windlass updates and tests prior to next flights, > 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) Report on today's (i.e. Wednesday's) test flight (Yorke, Max, and Will) > II) Plans for software/firmware and windlass updates & tests ASAP prior to next flight > III) Pre- and post-flight calibration and goniometric calibrations > IV) Flight plans > V) Nanosat design: post or send comments on Cordell's ICD (and CAD drawings) > VI) Computing/website > VII) Upcoming grant application status > VIII) AOB > > Talk to you all tomorrow! > justin > > Attachments: > http://projectaltair.org/HyperNews/get/AUX/2012/11/12/18.02-43361-Schedule-20120702_hqp.pdf >