Here are minutes of our meeting on Thursday -- please just reply with, or let me know, any corrections -- thanks!:
Phoning in: Houman Hakima (UTIAS-SFL) and Yorke Brown (Dartmouth), regrets from Cordell Grant and Susana Deustua
Yorke and his Dartmouth undergrads have now tested the brand-new recovery radio beacon (in order to avoid our having to use the Emergency Locator Transmitter frequency), and it appears to be working well. Flights will be resuming very shortly -- in the next couple weeks, or whenever it warms up and stops raining, in Hanover -- as the Dartmouth winter term is now fully complete and Yorke's grades are in. 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. I'll help out there in Hanover from Apr. 17 - 30, and then there again together with Karun and students from May 10 - 26.
Laboratory calibration-wise: Arnold, together with Bill Neil (an NRC scientific support staff member), has obtained the first set of goniometric data on the spheres and our sources (specifically from the old stock 6" Labsphere sphere -- and they will obtain data from the 2" Labsphere spheres next, and compare with Karun's measurements). Karun has been making excellent progress on atmospheric modelling using MODTRAN together with calibration star imaging data from Gemini, and just visited Stubbs at Harvard this past week to make progress together on that.
At UTIAS-SFL, Houman has completed a few more design modifications to the new integrating spheres -- 1) accommodating a Hamamatsu S2281 photodiode, and 2) adding 6 mini-input ports for LEDs, to use as additional available sources to complement (and extend the source spectrum from) the laser lines -- and he is now changing the balloon spheres to be 4" inner diameter rather than 2", as we can use the extra size on the balloon payloads (although a 4" sphere would be too large for the nanosat). He and Cordell are also continuing to work on the solid modelling for the nanosat bus, and on the optical path and modelling from the new laser module design through the integrating sphere.
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, we are continuing to make a few final updates to the DND-NSERC project proposal (which I had sent around to a number of people), and are continuing to interface with DND contacts regarding it. CSA is reviewing the FAST application from December (we should hear back on that in the next few weeks or so). And Susana is working with a Johns Hopkins engineering professor on student balloon flights, with propulsion via using an RC plane as the payload (and LEDs as light sources) -- and will be giving a ~15' summary of progress on that work at our next telecon!
That's all I remember, please send things that I forgot. Next telecon in two weeks, on Thursday, Apr. 10, at 2:30 pm Eastern time.
cheers, thanks all! justin
On Thu, 27 Mar 2014 01:37:16 GMT, Justin Albert wrote:
> Hi, > > Telecon tomorrow (Mar. 27) at our regular time of 2:30 pm Eastern time > (11:30 am Pacific, 20.30 European). Discussion items include: flights, > goniometric calibration, pre- and post-flight calibration, nanosat and > new laser module design, computing/website, 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) Flight plans and other operational work > II) Pre- and post-flight calibration and goniometric calibrations > III) Flights beyond NH > IV) Nanosat, new integrating spheres, and multicolour laser module designs > 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 >