Notes from meeting 961115 @ Bristol Aerospace Limited (BAL):

Offer option to CSA to give Phase A for microsat.
EJL estimates 1 yr lifetime @ 600 km.

BPayne: BAL have analyzed costs of operational mission - tradeoff
 between 1 long-lived satellite vs several short-lived cheaper ones.

EJL: For Odin, chose 10 cheap CD writers @ $2K/ over 1 top-of-the-line
 unit for $20K; if one fails use another one; same philosophy for
 microsats;

*** Work out launch window for NITEOWL! *** (need Churchill coordinates)

Odin: 3% accuracy in stratospheric ozone with expected noise.

microsat: 40 km horizontal resolution, 1 km vertical resolution, 3%
 concentration error at 25 km altitude; (did I get this right?)

clouds/aerosols make spectrum go bananas - how to separate PSCs and
 water clouds? (by different spectral effects!)

Berman/SCI-TEC want to control data (EJL to BAL) or build instruments
(DJS to DPS earlier): which is it?

Need a custom-designed recovery system - BAL will charge total cost and
 ensure no chance of losing money; BAL have good links with NASA and
 have talked about subcontracting;

Balloon takes too long to reach altitude (causing thermal problems for
 payload) and reaches Paschen pressure region - electrical discharge too
 big a problem;

BAL disappointed that no BB vehicles fit our bill - BB5 too high-
 powered, would need too much ballast to keep apogee down to 80 km;

BAL are interested in supporting NITEOWL as the first phase of a project
 that interests them _much_ more in second phase;

BAL will give us the simplest possible solution; this may involve
 reducing redundancy;

Chute deployment is one challenge involved;

BAL's low-cost TM unit (including GPS) may be an option - cost US$65K;
							- ready May '97;

BAL will give us weight budget, power budget, data acquisition scheme,
 and a CAD representation of the payload;

*** BAL need weights, power, field of view, and drawings ASAP; ***

NiCd batteries will probably be okay - simpler than silver cells;

Chute time creates trajectory dispersion problems, and thermal problems
 (can't do convective cooling in tenuous atmosphere);

Mil-spec electronics can work at -60° C - should be okay; (did I
 understand correctly from El/GPS/Firm team?)

Keep rocket warm on rail with custom styrofoam box, blowing warm air in
 at several key points;

Require essentially zero swing (~5° amplitude);

Require very slow (but non-zero) spin (say 1 rpm max. below 30 km);

Ron Robb has good contacts @ Wallops, with lots of parachute experience;

Wind drift - how far?
	   - when is LOS?
	   - can we accept loss of payload? (may have to trade this off
	     against launch costs to wait for low winds)
(These are questions for us to consider)

Akjuit entered the discussion at this point.
============================================

Which launcher? Aerobee launcher would need inspection and more work to
 get ready; universal rail preferred by Akjuit;

Speed off launch rail is a key concern (apparently one rail is slicker
 than another, but which is which?)

*** Orion uses a two-phase burn - up to 15g initially to get away, and
 then then drop to 6-8g - Ron Robb will get better numbers ***

Remote launch issues: launch equipment, support teams, GSE, licensing;

If Churchill launch costs X, remote launch costs nX - what is n? (10?!)

Akjuit can find a remote launcher - Rick Gervais has connections to
 mobile equipment;

Each extra launch has to be justifiedcompellingly on scientific grounds;
 one launch gives us a proof of concept - the key to this phase;

BAL can cost for one launch, and then indicate recurring costs for other
 launches;

We would need a longer baseline for PSC detection than we can achieve
 with multiple launches from one site;

Require to decomm TM and record "video" both;

8' S-band (1.6 GHz) TM - Akjuit get 30 dB on their dish;

Hand tracker (6' dish) an option; single S-band dish lacks redundancy;

*** Akjuit: are there operators who have tracked rockets before? ***
 (On OEDIPUS-C, 2 of 3 TM channels failed to achieve lock, and had to
 slave to 3rd channel - pretty scary for major flight!)

GPS receivers can't operate in accel/jerk environment of upleg burn;
 after engine cutoff no problem; (i.e., we can start acquiring GPS lock
 after engine cutoff on upleg, so we have GPS position all through chute
 descent);

Akjuit is building a backup power capability (unlike Poker Flat!)

*** I gave Ron Robb a sketch with a Cassegrain telescope ***
 (What is the possible field of view of a Cassegrain; what other options
 are there?)

*** Speculated imager would be 7" wide, 7" high, about 7" deep? The
 truth? ***

*** Estimated power/mass budget at 20 W, 10 kg, able to use 28 V. 28 V
 will be needed for TM system; we'll build whatever we need to convert 
 to other voltages: power conditioning; current conditioning; ***

*** Use an RS-422 serial interface; ***

*** BAL will handle GPS; they need to develop GPS into a standard bus
 for CSA anyway; ***

*** Can/should include a standard chemiluminescent ozonesonde for air-
 truthing; must provide details to BAL; ***

Use a metallized Mylar chute for a radar target to allow independent
 radar tracking? Add a transponder for tracking? These are added 
 services at extra costs;

TM will be a bi-phase PCM-FM system; error correction could be
 incorporated, as Akjuit can support it;

*** I requested inclusion of an attitude video camera, to be handled by
 BAL - cost? - power requirement? - will require an RF multiplexer to 
 put both S-band and 2/4 MHz video signals on same antenna; ***

Can also use BAL star tracker - CCD based - outputs CCD row #, start and
 stop column #, and frame #;


BAL/Akjuit will settle range safety / wind weighting responsibilities;

Consider weather issues; fixed launch cost for X attempts;

EJL thins last-quarter and no moon provides a better launch window,
 since last-quarter Moon rises v. late in morning, giving us the evening
 in which to work;

*** Authorized BAL to include AVC in proposal; maybe use OEDIPUS-C
 spare? Redundancy is an advantage - can delete if necessary; ***

*** BAL will break out the costs for Phase A, payload development, 
 payload integration,  launch support, post-flight operations; ***

Post-flight video analysis is probably a suitable student project; we'll
 handle it not BAL; 

Can't launch in October or early November, since there are too many
 polar bears around;

*** Mail 3 copies of the logo to BAL, and one to Akjuit; ***