[All] DCOTSS Weeks #1 & #2 report

[Chirica, Dan C. (ARC-SGG)]

Hello everyone,


It has been two weeks since DCOTSS started operations in Salina, KS. Caitlin and I arrived in Salina on Sunday, July 4th, and began setting up the deployment site on the following day. We spent the entire week setting up the lab space (ground floor) and the office areas (upper floor) in Hangar 606. To give you an idea of the scale, here’s a schematic of our setup.

[https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/8G-UDOLRM6IkiNIyL_Rt68QL3BSYyPO31dP0wgs8Vuwl6DJGkjYbZ3vdg9naLDTtxs2G7TR_f9_NrrSxs8PaWJaTWtrfUq1CzX_mlULGY4Z36dm1r0nIGGMJ9q65aGd72TfJ9f6y]

We moved and set up more than 50, 6’ foldable tables and chairs. Initially, I thought allotting a week for setting up the lab was overly generous, but we ended up working every day of the week. This hangar is a very nice facility, one of the best I’ve operated out of. However, like any other deployment, this did not come without surprises. For example, the ‘Life Support’ room turned out to be not connected to the A/C system in the building. This was news to the airport administrators. Caitlin quickly mobilized and sourced a room-size portable A/C unit.


Shipping was another challenge. Due to a new requirement from the Harvard team their equipment had to be shipped in an A/C truck, combined with the shipping industry shortage of drivers, we had to adjust our shipping plans. Sommer and Leslie worked hard in Palmdale to have the shipment prepared on time, just to have the A/C truck cancel their booking. With help from Harvard, we found another A/C-ed truck, however, the driver was not certified to transport ‘dangerous goods'. Sommer pulled some sort of magic, separated the dangerous goods, and managed to send the cargo which arrived in time for the start of the campaign.


The rest of the teams began joining us on July 9th, starting with the arrival of the ER-2 crew. Last week, the 2nd of our deployment was marked by a couple of significant events. The ER-2 arrived from Palmdale on July 12, and we had our first successful science flight out of Salina on July 16, an 8h survey flight that took the ER-2 north over the Hudson Bay.

[https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/nCzyhQG_UobyIOMAC6jHF39VN9pGLUd-Bp1eovTFu-OPQCV_CkZaOrcbgdWLRmdPZois9--P_GxC8flKvI_3Kw-l7pNPr-yGC2JhPZeNycJ0eKKIXF_JtG-sj6TgBTfHVN7eQIbP]


The instrument teams spent the weekend preparing the instruments and processing data. The ER-2 took a hard down day on Sunday, July 18. The next flight opportunity is on July 20th or 21st, depending on the development of the science target.


The lab went from this:

[https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Gp-KoxADKrHicL40h9hsVtU6ivxeeCAko5Br7yXwf17NF387cNCmxFN74LUr4zR0AyqP6dDxnE73XaotcOVMVm6zVZzmxgGbgY0_0OnYvOFmcPmnB5-vtM6sVjCcjFZDgx-1NIl]

… to this

[https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/gDE91lEzNTDaxKRc7v-pK3Ft1Ohfh9v3ftkfopt6UlINzw00qtfkFb4kAFkUUCENNo78HzZ326iVhN8EsH2GdSPEVvyril4pJ4bcpAgpIsiS8vHNemgSxRaECsYP181d1rJ8BE0v]


[https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/Jkw3hJtHO3u2I0o_q1OcjAv5ME_tB-_w8LNtnxqEXdbSi8HF7OR2UEcuAXKTPoHL5Q17Q4GdurvD8UGZbWJhZiAp-8lwfcMHBMnAmFvFztLfQZ7fK98pS4tUZB_9mFNoFqg3_-Ix]

The ER-2 returning from the 1st. science flight


[https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/8uNPs6WckdFM_mponHi0zFTM_U7ZB2R0gM6t_KLMkphCgAIsehTOLc10dfyE6AQIQk6Rq5Zi1BbZJ2wgt6dshDoEboQeEk7_irm_qLsNXCtvo7zBWIPArfpBPf9cQ59y7NoXVKzq]

“Haku”, “Corky” (life support), and “Coach” (pilot) before the first science flight in Salina


[https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/d8PKSa69p0TvPSbRL3S2mWFe0l7caLubB5u-im-eqmu9L0XOn33K8GYgV-TjQVzyAlrrQvXv6_o4qzGa2nRxDG5RyfvTwaRrfD49XxdS7aEzN548U9iPTDqFJ9U5cjrNXytZPJEE]

Pre-flight, all hands on deck


--Dan Chirica
Project Manager - Earth Science Project Office
NASA Ames Research Center
dan.c at nasa.gov
+1 (650) 604-0436 (o) +1 (650) 318-8257 (c)
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://espo.nasa.gov/pipermail/all/attachments/20210719/5336aa55/attachment-0001.htm>