Here are minutes of our brief meeting on Thursday -- please just reply with, or let me know, any corrections -- thanks!:
Phoning in: Karun Thanjavur (UVic) and Yorke Brown (Dartmouth). In spirit: Susana Deustua (STScI).
This was another quick meeting, on the day after New Year’s because of the AAS meeting in DC next week and also because one of my (non-ALTAIR) PhD students is defending next Thursday, making next Thursday not so good for a meeting. But we think we should probably keep the Thursday 2:30 pm Eastern meeting time this semester (with the next meeting on the 16th) -- I haven’t yet heard any suggestions so far to move it, but please do just let me know by e-mail if we should!
Flights have recently been on hold because of weather (as well as holidays and family) but hopefully the snow in NH should eventually warm up at least a bit and start melting. In the meantime, Yorke has been making tons of progress on balloon and camera control software, with his software now fully automating the telescope camera control as well as the payload light source operation, and automatically uploading the camera images to the control computer as a background process which maintains the real-time operation of the balloon telemetry. When weather permits, the plan is still to do another nighttime data-taking flight as well as a short daytime flight to check parafoil operation.
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), a number of our laser diode module sources, and the quad fiber interface, at NRC in Ottawa, and will be able to do measurements of them this month. Karun is working on MODTRAN results (and interfacing with Stubbs on what he’s produced so far on that) and on the pre- and post-flight calibration box, and will compare his goniometric results with Arnold’s when the latter are ready.
At UTIAS-SFL, which we'll hear from next time, 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.
On grant applications, the CSA application is out to CSA, and the current steps are to finish up the DND-NSERC application (which I'm working on this weekend), and then to deal with a possible CFI application later this month. 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, Jan. 16, at 2:30 pm Eastern time.
cheers, thanks all! justin
On Thu, 02 Jan 2014 01:43:01 GMT, Justin Albert wrote:
> Hi, > > Welcome to 2014! Bright and early, we’ll have our first telecon of the > new year tomorrow (Jan. 2) at the regular time of 2:30 pm Eastern time > (11:30 am Pacific, 20.30 European). Discussion items include: upcoming > flights and plans, 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) Upcoming flights and other operational work > II) Pre- and post-flight calibration and goniometric calibrations > III) Flights beyond NH > IV) Nanosat, and new multicolour laser module, design > V) Computing/website > VI) Grant applications > 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 >