Here are minutes of our meeting on Thursday (and a brief summary of where things stand compared with the nominal schedule) -- please just reply with, or let me know, any corrections -- thanks!:
Phoning in: Cordell Grant and Houman Hakima (UTIAS-SFL), Yorke Brown (Dartmouth), Karun Thanjavur (UVic), Arnold Gaertner (NRC-INMS), Susana Deustua (STScI)
Flights are still on hold because of winter weather (and classes etc), but Yorke now has two new undergraduate students (in addition to his undergraduate student Waad) who are starting by working on updating the documentation for flight procedures, in order to become familiar with the project for our upcoming field campaigns this spring. Yorke’s new operations software for flight and camera control appears to be working very well in the lab. Of course, 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 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 late 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, Houman and Cordell are continuing to work on the solid modelling for the nanosat bus, and on reducing the volume of the multicolour laser module (even further beyond the current design). They'll of course let us know if questions for us come up.
On computing/website, things appear stable -- please just either post a note or let me know if any fixes or changes are needed.
Regarding grant applications, CSA is reviewing the CSA application from December (we should hear back on that at around the beginning of April). We'll be sending the latest draft of the DND-NSERC application, which now has Allied Scientific Pro (new integrating spheres) and Gentec Electro-Optics (new optical power meters) added, as well as of course World Star Tech (new laser diode modules), as industrial partners, to our DND contacts tomorrow to get their comments. Also, Chris and Yorke should most likely be hearing back on the results of their NFS proposal in February.
Regarding our every-few-months review of where we presently stand with regard to the CSA project timeline linked below -- the nominal schedule has us presently now just over 3 months beyond the "Initial Balloon Data" marker, and we should be fairly steadily (with breaks for weather etc) be obtaining balloon data, and additionally be using that data to improve and refine the nanosat design. Clearly there being freezing rain with a foot of snow on the ground in New Hampshire puts obvious constraints on our day-to-day implementation of such plans, but come springtime we'll of course need to be doing a lot of flights to get where we want to be, and that is indeed the plan.
That's all I remember, please send things I forgot. Next telecon in two weeks, on Thursday, Jan. 30, at 2:30 pm Eastern time.
cheers, thanks all! justin
On Thu, 16 Jan 2014 02:09:21 GMT, Justin Albert wrote:
> Hi, > > Telecon tomorrow (Jan. 16) 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. I should also > do another (every-few-months) review of where we presently stand with > regard to the CSA project timeline below -- I’ll send that together, > this upcoming weekend, with the minutes following the meeting. > > 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 >