Dear All: Here are the highlights of the meeting Ted LLewellyn and I had last Friday in Winnipeg, with representatives of Bristol Aerospace Limited (hereafter BAL) and Akjuit Aerospace (hereafter AA). I will say more about the meeting on Wednesday at the plenary meeting, and will be happy to answer any questions you may have at that time. Information gained at meeting: ============================== 1 The Orion vehicle uses a two-phase burn, the first brief phase providing acceleration up to 15g in order to get away, and the second, longer phase providing lower accelerations (6-8g?); see BAL action item 1; 2 Requirements for high-altitude parachute deployment, high-altitude payload stabilization against swing (< 5 deg amplitude) and rapid spin, and spin rate < 1 rpm below 30 km are significant challenges for BAL; BAL have good links with NASA to address these issues and may subcontract them to NASA; total cost for custom-designed recovery system will be high; 3 BAL are interested in supporting NITEOWL primarily as a necessary step toward the second (microsat) phase of the project, which interests them _much_ more; they are obliged to give each request for quotation equal treatment and as such will give our requirements "due diligence" between now and December 9, 1996; 4 BAL will propose the simplest possible solution, which may involve reducing redundancy; 5 NiCd batteries will be used rather than silver cells; 6 Long chute time creates trajectory dispersion problems (i.e., payload drift with prevailing winds during descent) and thermal problems (can't use convective cooling where there is "no atmosphere"); 7 GPS equipment cannot function in the acceleration/jerk environment of the motor burn, but can be turned on after engine cutoff to acquire lock during upleg; this will allow GPS positions from lock acquisition through loss of signal on downleg; 8 Rocket is kept warm while awaiting launch by enclosure in custom-made styrofoam box with warm air blown in at several points; 9 Akjuit get 30 dB from their 8' S-band (1.6 GHz) dish for a 2W transmitter 100 km away; 10 Have the option to use a 6' hand-tracked dish to provide redundancy for 8' dish; 11 Akjuit is building a backup power capability; 12 Cannot launch from SpacePort Canada during October and early november since there are too many polar bears around; Decisions taken at meeting: =========================== 1 We will propose one (1) launch, intended as proof of concept of NITEOWL instrument, and extract the maximum science possible, rather than try to work up compelling scientific justification for _very_ expensive remote-site launches; 2 We must be prepared to power scientific payload from 28V DC power supply; 3 RS-422 serial interface will be used on board payload; 4 BAL will have responsibility for providing appropriate GPS equipment for use with NITEOWL; they are working on integrating GPS technology into a low-cost (~US$65K) telemetry system for the CSA, and expect to have a working system by next May; 5 We will plan to fly a chemiluminescent ozonesonde with the NITEOWL payload in order to provide an in-situ monitor of ozone density (ref. Hilsenrath and Kirschner, Rev. Sci. Instrum., v. 51, no. 10, pp. 1381- 1389, 1980); 6 I asked BAL to cost their inclusion in the NITEOWL payload of an attitude video camera similar to that used on OEDIPUS-C (the video shown at the seminar); the video signal will be RF multiplexed onto the same antenna as that used for S-band telemetry, and will require a separate receiving dish on the ground; 7 NITEOWL team will handle post-flight analysis of attitude video data - probably a suitable student project; Action items for NITEOWL team: ============================== 1 Someone must work out the possible launch windows for a NITEOWL launch from SpacePort Canada (aka Churchill Rocket Range, 58 deg, 44 min N lat, 93 deg, 50 min W long): times such that the Sun will be 12 deg below the horizon as seen from apogee, and the Moon will be below the horizon as seen from apogee, throughout the duration of a 1-hour flight (neglecting horizontal payload drift); 2 Optics team must settle on optics to focus grating throughput onto CCD, bearing in mind increased entrance aperture and decreased field of view; 3 We must provide numbers on experiment mass, power requirement, field of view, and schematic drawings to BAL ASAP; (I gave BAL a sketch of a Cassegrain telescope (7" diameter, 7-13" depth) to give them an idea of the size and orientation of the optics; I gave BAL estimates of 20 W power consumption and 10 kg total mass for NITEOWL scientific payload, based on similar numbers for OSIRIS) 4 We must provide details to BAL of the mass and power requirement of a chemiluminescent ozonesone (see decision 5 above); 5 Risk/reliability team must weigh loss of payload (due to wind drift over Hudson Bay) against additional cost of extra nights waiting for suitable wind conditions; Action items for BAL: ===================== 1 Ron Robb will provide more accurate acceleration numbers for two phases of Orion burn; 2 BAL will investigate performance of AVC in Paschen breakdown region during descent; 3 BAL will provide power and mass budgets for NITEOWL payload, the data acquisition scheme, total cost of their services (broken down into Phase A, payload development, payload integration, launch support, and post-flight operations) and a CAD drawing of the NITEOWL payload by December 9, 1996; Action items for AA: ==================== 1 Provide cost for both backup of telemetry "video" and telemetry decommutation; 2 Akjuit to ensure provision of TM tracking operators who have tracked before; 3 Akjuit will provide a fixed cost for X launch attempts, in view of weather uncertainties; Points that must be included in proposal: ========================================= 1 Offer CSA the option to issue contract for microsat Phase A study; 2 Include brief discussion of primitive equations for occultation and tomography;