Here are minutes of our meeting on Thursday — please just reply with, or let me know, any corrections — thanks!:
Phoning in: Cordell Grant and Houman Hakima (UTIAS-SFL), Arnold Gaertner (NRC-INMS), Yorke Brown (Dartmouth), and Susana Deustua (STScI)
Weather has prevented flights in NH for the past few weeks, but we’re hoping that will change soon. Yorke has both the science payload (with laser diode module sources) and the engineering payload (with LED source) on the lab bench basically ready to go. For the next data-taking flight, there are a number of things which we’d like to improve: 1) get observations closer to the zenith (so that we don’t take such big variability and intensity hits when we have measurements close to the horizon), 2) take images in better focus (either to infinity or to the payload — note that both are effectively at infinity for our Meade telescope), 3) if possible, get multicolor observations with different laser diode sources, plus onboard photodiode measurements, instead of just the LED source (if we decide we want to risk the science source ending up in a tree, or worse, at this point), 4) ensure we have very precise (~1/10 s or better if possible) time alignment btw the camera observations and the payload telemetry, 5) see if it might be possible to obtain more frequent heading/pitch/roll data than the 1 Hz we get presently?, 6) check the camera shutter exposure time variability with a lab setup. A healthy-sized set of tasks — but of course we don’t have to do all of them before the next flight — any 1 or more of the above would be good to do. And we’d also like to do that daytime flight just to observe parafoil operation by eye as well, if we get a good chance for that.
Laboratory calibration-wise, Arnold now has the spheres (both the 2” duplicate of our custom aluminum sphere presently in NH, as well as our old 6” Labsphere off-the-shelf sphere), several of our laser diode module sources, and the quad fiber interface, there at NRC in Ottawa, and will be able to do measurements of them either at the end of this month or in early January. Karun is in India, returning this weekend I believe, and will be comparing his measurements with Arnold’s when the latter are ready, and in the meantime will be working on MODTRAN results (and interfacing with Stubbs on what he’s already produced on that) and on the pre- and post-flight calibration box.
At UTIAS-SFL, Houman and Cordell are continuing to work on the solid modelling for the nanosat bus, and will soon know if the volume of the multicolour laser module needs to be reduced still further beyond the current design.
On computing/website, things appear stable -- please just either post a note or let me know if any fixes or changes are needed.
There’s a lot going on now with regard to grant applications. For CFI (Canada Foundation for Innovation), we’ve now submitted the internal UVic application to request permission to apply for CFI funds in 2014. This CFI competition is intended for large projects, and so we’ve now been merged with another UVic-led proposal for balloon-borne astronomy (their project is for Earth-analogue planet finding, with large-payload balloon flights [although we can test out their equipment with our small-payload flights] and is led by Colin Bradley in mechanical engineering at UVic and Christian Marois at NRC-Herzberg), called Maple — and together we’re within the $2.5M to $10M window that CFI wants for this competition. There is also a new CSA FAST AO out, and we recently learned that current FAST recipients are indeed eligible for this program, so we also intend to apply for that (in their “Category B”) — that is due Dec. 20, so I’ll be working hard on that this coming week. And our long-suffering — due to having no due date, so always getting pushed back for urgent time-critical tasks — DND-NSERC grant proposal with World Star Tech is, still, almost out. I will finish that one up when the new CSA grant is out — because the latter needs to be out by Dec. 20 — the DND-NSERC remaining push will be between xmas and new year’s. Also, Chris and Yorke have submitted a new NFS proposal (and should hear the results in the spring), and 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 Thursday, Dec. 19, at 2:30 pm Eastern time.
cheers, thanks all! justin
On Wed, 04 Dec 2013 23:08:43 GMT, Justin Albert wrote:
> Hi, > > Telecon tomorrow (Dec. 5) at the regular time of 2:30 pm Eastern time > (11:30 am Pacific, 20.30 European). Discussion items include: the > upcoming flights and plans, discussion of the Oct. 12 flight data > analysis, 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) Discussion of Oct. 12 flight data > II) Upcoming flights and other operational work > III) Pre- and post-flight calibration and goniometric calibrations > IV) Flights beyond NH > 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 >