Here are the minutes of our meeting on Thursday --- please just reply with (or let me know) any corrections -- thanks!:
Phoning in: Arnold Gaertner (NRC-INMS), Susana Deustua (STScI), Yorke Brown (Dartmouth & Harvard), Karun Thanjavur (UVic)
Yorke gave us the status on flights: he and Max (who just left for Purdue -- good luck at grad school, Max!) have been several very short test flights recently, and essentially everything appears to be working except for the parafoil steering. Two tiny (pack-of-gum size) video cameras (from a GoPro competitor) have just arrived, and Yorke, Karun (who's now there in NH), and a new Dartmouth student (Todd Anderson) will mount them around the gondola for the next short test flight to get an idea of what might be going wrong with the windlass that controls the parafoil steering after cutdown. They'll also do a set of other pre-flight tests, and watch for opportunities for a nighttime observation flight, even if the parafoil steering hasn't yet been fully debugged at that point (in that case we could momentarily back out to regular parachute, and solve the parafoil steering afterwards).
Regarding the goniometric and pre- and post-flight calibrations, Karun has built an interface mount and photodiode holder for the pre- and post-flight calibration check device. He's presently showing it to Yorke, and will post pictures and schematics once they're both happy with it. Arnold reports that the primary goniometric calibration setup at NRC should be ready for some first tests in August. Karun should have some initial data from the goniometric test check comparison setup once he's back in Victoria in July.
Cordell is working on finding a student to help him out this summer with the nanosat design next steps -- 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, I've just talked on Thursday with Cetin Karakus at World Star Tech regarding the joint DND-NSERC grant request with WST for our next lasers, and he is quite happy with that. I presently need to revise the project description for this (scaled-down) grant application, and then also talk with our DND contacts again, and then we hopefully can submit. Yorke is also talking with the JPL folks again regarding NASA SURP grant opportunities.
In AOB, the Google Project Loon development is an extremely interesting one, and very hopefully we could work with them in the future. They have a form for potential partnerships located at https://services.google.com/fb/forms/loonpartnerships/ , and I strongly encourage everyone to fill that out! (Just FYI, in the one that I filled out, I just put "scientific partnership" under the "What type of partnership would you like to explore" question, and http://projectaltair.org under "Organization website".) I'm guessing that most likely right now Project Loon is just trying to get their baseline system working, and only afterwards would they entertain requests to work with scientists -- i.e. perhaps when they have a working fairly-steady-state system at 43 S latitude -- but it definitely can't hurt to fill out and submit their form whenever you get a chance!
That's all I remember. Please send things I forgot. Note that since two weeks from Thursday would be July 4, a not-so-good day for the telecon, instead let's have our next telecon in 3 weeks, on *** Thurs., Jul. 11, *** at the regular 11:00 Eastern time.
cheers, thanks all! justin
On Thu, 20 Jun 2013 02:32:48 GMT, Justin Albert wrote:
> Hi, > > Telecon tomorrow (Thursday June 20) at our regular time of 11:00 am > Eastern time (8 am Pacific, 17.00 European). Discussion items include: > flight reports from the recent NH parafoil test flights, updates and > tests prior to next flights, goniometric calibration, pre- and > post-flight calibration, nanosat design, computing/website, preparation > for upcoming grant applications, and science flight plans. 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 recent parafoil-debugging test flights (Yorke) > II) Plans for updates & tests prior to next flights > III) Pre- and post-flight calibration and goniometric calibrations > IV) Science flight plans > V) Nanosat design > 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 >