Here are minutes of our meeting on Thursday -- please just reply with (or let me know) any corrections -- thanks!:
Attendees: Yorke Brown (Dartmouth), Arnold Gaertner (NRC) and me were the full house this time -- e-mail apologies from Houman Hakima (UTIAS-SFL), Susana Deustua (STScI), and the JHU folks this week (the end of classes for the semester imposed many time constraints)
Yorke and Cynthia have now largely constructed their latest diffused-LED-based light source -- http://altair1.dartmouth.edu/design/CDR-DiffSource.pdf. They are watching the skies for decent weather as snow begins to accumulate in NH. The SPOT Trace for backup tracking is in Hanover and we have now set it up with its service plan: http://www.findmespot.com/en/index.php?cid=128 ; it will now be tested outdoors in realistic conditions.
I talked with Mike Smith at Raven-Aerostar last week: as an alternative to a superpressure balloon for our next-generation balloon, he suggested a zero-pressure balloon with an electronic gas valve (operable at high altitude) at the top of the balloon (with thin wire leads coming down to the payload); that kind of balloon is significantly simpler and less costly to manufacture than a superpressure balloon, and would have the similar benefits of reusability, and control at altitude, that a superpressure balloon can have. I've asked Raven-Aerostar for a quote.
I'm still working on LaTeXing up my handwritten analytical calculations of the output of a diffused light source at large angles from normal to the diffuser plane -- https://particle.phys.uvic.ca/~jalbert/RoughAnalyticalCalculations.pdf, and comparing the results with toy Monte Carlo https://particle.phys.uvic.ca/~jalbert/photontoymc.pdf -- more very soon.
Regarding the concept for very long-range (up to 100 km and beyond) optical transceiver communication with the balloon in nighttime flight, we will test out the idea around December 18-20 in Hanover, all the equipment needed for a long-range ground-based test of the idea is available. Assuming that test works, we'll certainly include the construction of such a system in a Google proposal which is due in April of this coming year.
That's all I remember, please send things that I forgot. Next telecon in two weeks, on Thursday, Dec. 18 at 1:30 pm Eastern time.
cheers, thanks all! justin
On Thu, 04 Dec 2014 00:59:30 GMT, Justin Albert wrote:
> Hi! > > Telecon tomorrow (Dec. 4) at the usual time: 1:30 pm Eastern (10:30 am > Pacific, 19.30 European). Discussion items include: weather and flight > planning, light source modelling, goniometric and pre- and post-flight > calibration, nanosat and new laser module design, computing/website, > grant applications, and recap of schedules. A reminder of the CSA > project timeline is attached. > > Here's how to connect: > 1) Open Skype on your computer (note that of course, you should first install Skype, http://www.skype.com , on your machine if you haven't already). > 2) In the "Contacts" menu, add me ( jalbertuvic ) as a contact, if you haven't already. > 3) Just wait for me to Skype-call you at the usual time (1:30 pm Eastern, 10:30 am Pacific). > 4) If there is any trouble, or if you don't get a call for some reason and would like to join, just send me an e-mail (jalbert@uvic.ca). > > Here's the tentative agenda: > I) Flight planning > II) Light source studies and modelling, pre- and post-flight calibration, and goniometric calibrations > III) Nanosat, new integrating spheres, and multicolour laser module designs > IV) Computing/website > V) Grant applications > VI) AOB > > Talk to you all tomorrow, thanks! > justin > > Attachments: > http://projectaltair.org/HyperNews/get/AUX/2012/11/12/18.02-43361-Schedule-20120702_hqp.pdf >