First of all, my apologies for Max's CAD drawings of the new integrating sphere ending up in our inboxes multiple times -- that was definitely not Max's fault at all, nor the fault of any human being, and appears to be due to a little computer glitch. Chris and Ashok are working on what strange thing might have caused it, and we think it almost certainly was an unusual glitch that won't happen again!
Here then are the minutes of our meeting yesterday -- please just reply with or let me know any corrections -- thanks!:
Phoning in: Arnold Gaertner (NRC-INMS), Keith Vanderlinde (McGill), Susana Deustua (STScI) Apologies: Elena was at a meeting in Germany, Cordell was swamped with unexpected other tasks, Max didn't realize the meeting time had changed!
News from Yorke and the Dartmouth group: the telescope tracking test flight was done on Saturday (during the day), with a launch from a high school near Dartmouth, and the payload ending up on Mt. Cardigan in NH. The flight was quite successful, in that the telescope tracking worked excellently. The only hitch was that the payload is, for some reason, not emitting its ELT (emergency locator transmitter) signal, and thus is at the top of a tree somewhere in a ~ 100 m x ~100 m area of thick forest on the east side of Mt. Cardigan -- the only likely way to spot it is via flying over in a small plane, and Yorke will ask his pilot friend if that's possible soon. Fortunately, the payload doesn't have the source (laser diode modules, integrating sphere etc) in it, so even if in the worst case scenario it is completely lost, it wouldn't be a major monetary loss at all.
Next flight will be the night flight to try to get a good observation, but if possible we'd like to try to find the payload from Saturday's flight first.
Before the majority of people joined, Arnold and I had another little initial discussion about laboratory calibration of the goniometric output of the light source. We'll calibrate radiant intensity and spectral intensity, and that will be done in practice by measuring irradiance. Arnold calculated that we'll only need to be less than a meter away from the source in order for it to look like a point source, so we can calibrate from 2 to 3 meters away in the lab and we'll be totally fine. We can (importantly) have the source on its side to do the measurements, as it is a lot easier to do things horizontally. We'll work on a draft procedure for the calibration, and also look over the old data in https://particle.phys.uvic.ca/~jalbert/images13jul12 and https://particle.phys.uvic.ca/~jalbert/data21Jun12 and https://particle.phys.uvic.ca/~jalbert/images1apr2012 to see what they can tell us.
On nanosat design status, Cordell's mission and system requirements spreadsheets, and his initial system design flowchart, have been sent around -- and I have also attached them to this post -- and people should reply with any comments. There are some items in red on his requirements spreadsheets that need defining, but I think most of those require a bit of initial balloon data before we want to fully define those -- we can definitely put tentative values in however.
Comments on the website and Hypernews are especially welcome -- please use them, and send us suggestions for changes and fixes. We will do our best to make sure multiple postings don't happen again!!!
On upcoming grant opportunities: on the Canadian side we'll meet with some ballooning folks from RMCC (Royal Military College of Canada) later this month on Sat. Oct. 27 to discuss potential future opportunities via the DND (Department of National Defence) - NSERC joint grant funding framework. On the U.S. side, Susana mentioned that there is an NSF deadline that is 4 weeks away which is a potential opportunity, but if itwere to be taken advantage of we'd need to move very quickly. Susana will talk with NSF to canvass their interest, and also talk with Chris Stubbs. An application (to either or both of NASA or NSF) will definitely be made, the only question is if this year is the year to start going for it, or if we want to wait for next year.
That's all I remember -- please send things I forgot.
thanks! justin
On Mon, 15 Oct 2012 23:54:12 GMT, Justin Albert wrote:
> Hi, > > Telecon tomorrow (Tuesday Oct. 16) at the new regular time of *** 12:00 > noon Eastern time (9 am Pacific, 18.00 European) ***. > > Discussion items include the results of the successful telescope > tracking test flight just the day before yesterday, plans for the next > flight (a night flight in which we'll hopefully observe the source in > real conditions for the first time), goniometric source calibration, > nanosat design requirements, user experiences with the new website and > hypernews, and flights beyond the upcoming flight. > > 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 results and progress > A) Results of the telescope tracking test flight (daytime flight this past Saturday) > B) Preparation for next flight (night flight) > C) New integrating spheres > D) Mt. Hopkins (& beyond) > II) Nanosat design requirements > III) Computing & website > IV) Upcoming grant opportunities > V) AOB > > Talk to you all tomorrow! > justin >
Attachment:
http://projectaltair.org/HyperNews/get/AUX/2012/10/17/14.32-76877-CALSystemArchitecture.pdf
http://projectaltair.org/HyperNews/get/AUX/2012/10/17/14.32-66437-CALSystemRequirements.xls
http://projectaltair.org/HyperNews/get/AUX/2012/10/17/14.33-92632-ALMissionRequirements.xls