Meetings
SORCE is planning a Science Team Meeting July 9, 10, 11 2001 at
the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, University of
Colorado, Boulder, Colorado.
SORCE scientists hope to present papers or attend the following
summer 2001 meetings:
- Workshop on the Evolving Sun and its Influence on Planetary
Environments June 2001 Granada, Spain.
- International Solar Cycle Studies 2001-Solar Variability,
Climate and Spaceweather June 2001 Longmont, Colorado
- IAGA Session on Solar Variability August 2001 Hanoi, Vietnam
SORCE
April 2001 Project Summary
The EOS SORCE Mission remains on schedule and within budget. However,
virtually all slack time for build, spacecraft integration, and
test is dwindling, as are contingency funds. All schedules, manufacturing
costs and test facilities are carefully monitored and adjusted on
a daily basis to meet the ongoing requirements of the SORCE program.
Happily, the extra vigilance and planning has alleviated some situations,
and aided others.
On March 28, 2001, Dr. Doug Rabin, new SORCE Deputy Project NASA
scientist, met with Dr. Gary Rottman, SORCE PI to discuss the progress
of the SORCE program, and Dr. Rottman also met with Dr. Micheal
King (NASA EOS Project Scientist) to discuss funding for SORCE for
the years 2002 and beyond.
Dr. Myriam Adda, joined the LASP SORCE Mission Team April 23, 2001,
as a Research Associate. Dr. Adda will be working with Dr. Jerry
Harder on the calibration and characterization of the SIM (Spectral
Irradiance Monitor) instrument. Dr. Adda worked on her Ph.D. at
the French Space Agency. The objective of her Ph.D. was to design
the on-board scientific software for a French satellite, COROT,
which deals with stellar seismology and the search for new planets.
To obtain this objective, Dr. Adda studied, documented and modeled
the perturbations of the instrument, (attitude, stability, CCD sensors)
and the instrument environment (thermal variations, diffused light,
radiation effects). In addition, Dr. Adda developed the test bench
used to test and characterize the CCD sensors for COROT.
SORCE
Mission Operations Status
The SORCE Mission Operations Review (MOR) was successfully completed
April 23-24, 2001. Eight RFA's (requests for action) resulted from
the review.
|
Two RFA's
were for Orbital and dealt with modes/states and the wiring of
battery cells, one was directed to NASA regarding the completion
of the Project Service Level Agreement, and three RFA's were directed
to LASP/SORCE. The three dealt with launch critical assets, launch
dispersion analysis, and a possible ICESat/SORCE launch conflict.
Realistic launch dates must be obtained to enable smooth launch
coordination and mission operation planning among other NASA missions,
such as AQUA and ICESat, and mission control operations at LASP,
who will control both SORCE and ICESat. Two RFA's were directed
to LASP/Orbital and they dealt with the FOG (gyros) review and
FDC (failure detection and correction).
The SORCE Mission Operations security plan is accepted, security
scans have been planned, and closed IO (input/output) connections
should be available in early May, 2001. NASA continues to work
on three PSLA issues, the costing of the FDF (flight dynamics
facility), the price of voice and data lines and the statement
of work for the USN (Universal Space Network). The USN site in
Santiago, Chile has been removed from the SORCE LEOP (launch and
early orbit phase) and routine operations plan. This will affect
operating hours for recieving data from the SORCE satellite. It
was stated, that considering the costs for "renting"
USN facilities, perhaps SORCE/LASP should consider building a
tracking station of their own. It appears that a cost comparison
is worth investigation.
TIM
Status
As was stated in last month's newsletter TIM saw "first light"
March 29, 2001. All TIM "bugs" are reported, tracked
and recorded. Everything but the vacuum doors seal, and the vacuum
door assembly is being remachined to accommodate a larger O-ring,
in hopes of gaining a solid seal. Thermal model refinements predict
excessive solar heating so an MLI (multilayer insulation) heat
shield is being installed in front of TIM. Electrical noise and
gain testing is in progress and improvements have been made in
grounding. The photodiodes were replaced with a superior set.
TIM STIM has been tested. The TIM DSP and MU are in initial functional
testing, learning curves on the generic channel interface and
the digital signal processor have been overcome, and remaining
performance glitches are being ironed out. TIM still needs to
pass vacuum test, and temperature regulation (PID filter) coefficients
for cone and heat sink need to be refined. TIM must undergo environmental
testing and thermal vacuum testing with temperature regulation.
Post thermal characterizations for noise, standard watt measurement,
TIM STIM, and heliostat excitation are planned.
|
