Here are minutes of our meeting yesterday -- please just reply with (or let me know) any corrections -- thanks!:
Phoning in: Yorke Brown (Dartmouth/Harvard), Karun Thanjavur (UVic), Arnold Gaertner (NRC-INMS), and apologies from Houman Hakima (UTIAS-SFL) and Susana Deustua (STScI)
We now have images, thanks to Yorke and his crew!!! The flight early before dawn on Saturday, launched from Thetford Academy in Vermont, was able to obtain a number of images in flight, using the real Harvard Meade telescope and SBIG camera, of the LED-based light source, before the payload unexpectedly began descending from approximately 4000 meters above Thetford, VT. The payload landed, and remains, at the very top of a 90 ft. (indeed, 90 ft) tree in forested private land off of Stowell Rd. in Thetford. (Yorke is contacting the landowner regarding recovery.)
Yorke will post images, in FITS format, very shortly. We should be able to do photometry on them this coming week, and compare e.g. with manufacturer's specifications for the LED output distribution and the known light path (as well as any with known stars that happen to also be on the images). Note that this is not the real laser diode-based light source (Yorke very wisely used the cheap LED source -- a very good thing because we may well end up having to cut that 90 ft. tree down), but we still should be able to get the measured image photometry to match up with expectations from the viewing angle and the known light path at least to order ~25% or so, at least I would think/hope… -- we'll do the analysis this coming week!!! ***Congratulations*** to Yorke and the launch and tracking team!!!!!
Regarding operations and recovery, the gondola began descending unexpectedly at an altitude of approximately 4000 m; from the plot of altitude vs UTC time in
http://projectaltair.org/HyperNews/get/AUX/2013/10/18/18.59-93183-LTAIR11_AltitudeVsUTC.pdf
it looks like it was a burst rather than a slow leak. Note that the balloon used was a (low cost) Scientific Sales one, rather than a (more dependable) Kaymont one -- previous early leak/burst issues have been with the former as well. Steering control on the descent was nil; the gondola appears to have fallen in a constant wide right-hand spiral -- Yorke believes this was potentially due to the possible failure of the right-hand-edge air pocket on the parafoil to open properly. (It is unlikely that remnants of the balloon were to blame, as there was a clean cutdown after the gondola began descending, and no traces of the balloon appear to be at the top of the tree.) Recovering the gondola will be extremely difficult. It is on the twigs at the very very top of an extremely tall tree, in a dense forest of other very tall trees. The branches and trunk at anywhere close to the 90 ft. height will not reliably support a human climber. Since the most valuable single thing on the payload is the parafoil ($250) -- everything else is quite low cost at least on its own -- the best thing to do is likely to cut the tree down if the landowner is willing. Yorke is in the process of finding that out.
Yorke decided to do this image-taking flight, prior to the daytime visual flight to check parafoil steering, since the weather was good and he wanted to get images. Definitely the right decision, but indeed the next flight should probably be the daytime visual one. (It will be nice to see if the steering can be made to work, while we're analyzing the images from this flight.) We remain with the open option of going to Mt. Hopkins in mid-December (and the fact that good images were obtained on this past flight is favourable for that).
Laboratory calibration-wise, Karun now has the setup for goniometric measurements of the integrating sphere at UVic basically ready to go, with just a light-tight adapter that still needs to be fabricated in the machine shop, and he will report on that for next meeting. Following data-taking at the UVic setup, we will then send the sphere to Arnold, who will then be ready for some first tests with the source and integrating sphere. Karun is also working on both Modtran-based simulation of ALTAIR images, and may additionally have some plots etc. to report on that for next meeting as well.
At UTIAS-SFL, Houman has beautiful initial mechanical drawings for the new multicolour laser module -- although I've just now asked for one more drawing, I just need to finish up the DND-NSERC grant request with Houman's drawings in them!
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, the DND-NSERC grant proposal with World Star Tech is complete, modulo a couple little details, and I'll send it around this coming week. There is also a CFI (Canada Foundation for Innovation) competition later this year and early next year, which we have submitted a UVic-internal LoI for. This CFI competition is mainly intended for large projects (the expected budgets for proposals in this CFI program are between $2.5M and $10M), and our prospective larger-project partner is the PFS spectrometer project for the Subaru Telescope, and our LoI was jointly-submitted with theirs. Yorke is also talking with the JPL folks again regarding upcoming NASA grant opportunities.
That's all I remember, please send things I forgot. Next telecon in 2 weeks, on Halloween Thursday, at 2:30 pm Eastern time!
cheers, thanks all! justin
On Wed, 16 Oct 2013 23:59:00 GMT, Justin Albert wrote:
> Hi, > > Telecon tomorrow (Thursday Oct. 17) at our regular time of 2:30 pm > Eastern time (11:30 am Pacific, 20.30 European). Discussion items > include: debrief from the flight this past Saturday, recovery of the > payload and upcoming flights, goniometric calibration, pre- and > post-flight calibration, nanosat and new multicolour laser module > design, computing/website, upcoming grant applications, and recap of > operation 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) Debrief from the flight on Saturday > II) Payload recovery plans, upcoming flights, and other operational work > III) Pre- and post-flight calibration and goniometric calibrations > IV) Planning for flights beyond New Hampshire / Vermont > V) Nanosat, and new multicolour laser module, 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 >