DR Meeting « schriste@ssl

October 16, 2009

DR Meeting

Filed under: FOXSI, Work — Steven Christe @ 8:36 am

The DR (Design Review) meeting for FOXSI happened today at the Wallops Flight Facility. Everything went smoothly though a few action items were noted. Some bullet points from my notes follow (revised 10/19/2009 to include suggestions by L. Glesener):

During the launch (i.e. with the motors firing), we can expect short (millisecond) drop-outs in power. We should consider (and test) how these power drop-outs will affect us.
It was noted that a previous experiment had a problem with saturation which paralyzed their experiment. We should add such a test to our procedures.
The exact location of the cooling system which will hang on the rail, preferably as close to the payload as possible, has not yet been resolved. Ted Nelson(?) may be able to help out with this problem or someone could travel to White Sands prior to launch to figure this out on site
For range safety, a complete procedure needs to be written up about the FOXSI alignment process (using the x-ray tube) and sent to Wallops. All lasers (even those whose power output is less than 5 milliwatts) need to be declared through some forms provided by Wallops. Also, all radioactive sources need also be declared. Forms can be gotten from T. Gass.
A stand (which can be leveled) to hold the the FOXSI payload can be provided by Wallops. It would be useful to get some photos of it.
Connectors and cabling for the shutter door and SPARCS will be delivered to SSL for harnessing.
The shutter door may also be delivered to SSL.
The SPARCS system has never been pre-programmed for multiple targets in the past. Command uplink is the usual method which means that we will always have a choice to go to the next target or not. The exact sequence need to be discussed in light of the minimum mission success criteria.
A accelerometer will be provided by Wallops during the vib test and can be placed anywhere. Paul suggested it be placed on the free end of the metering tube.
It was noted that the range requires clearance to allow the rocket to transmit. Since clearance is not always possible, a direct wired connection to the formatter output would be useful.
SPARCS takes about 4 seconds to move from one target to another. Also, SPARCS need to be within 20 arcminutes (1200 arcseconds) of Sun center to be able to do its job. The pointing alignment is most sensitive to the LISS alignment to instrument.
There are currently 8 other experiment flights ahead of FOXSI.
As of today a rocket has been committed for the FOXSI flight but manufacturing is behind therefore there is no actual rocket available.
There is some contention at Wallops about not having solar missions meet first at Wallops to ensure that the mission is ready before sending everyone to White Sands. Until further notice, the plan is still to go straight to White Sands for mission readiness review.
Need a new uplink command to enable the shutters (one time event).
White Sands will not schedule the launch date until I&T is finished. If I&T occurs/completes on schedule, then we can expect the launch plan to be within a week or two of the currently estimated date.