[All] DCOTSS ESPO update from the field

[Luna, Bernadette (ARC-SGG)]

ESPO update from Palmdale 10 June 2021

I arrived here May 26 in the afternoon as Dan and Rick from Praxair were unloading cylinders. Caitlin arrived a couple days after me, and she says the holiday highways were a challenge – not pleasant. Dan departed on Tuesday June 1, so we had a couple days of overlap over the Memorial Day weekend.  We worked in the hangar Saturday and Sunday; the teams want instrument time every day, pretty much. It all feels very familiar (my last time here in 703 was FIREX in 2019), and I saw the ER-2 crew at IMPACTS 16 months ago, but there are some new faces on the crew. We are juggling the escort duties as Dan mentioned before, with the little things that come up during integration. We have two 1:1 FNs and 4 others. AFRC has provided us many escorts: Andrea Gliwa, Brian and Fran, Ken Norlin, and Cathy Freudinger, and they have been very helpful.

A few familiar faces returned (Fred, Eric, Jim and Brad for UCATS and Sue and Victoria for WAS), we had one new arrival (Erin from CAFÉ/CANOE) and some departures (Xiaoli with PALMS, but she returns soon; Eliot and Rich from AWAS). Activity at first was focused on preparation for CST, which was held Monday, June 7. I began drafting this email on Friday June 4, and that morning the crew accomplished the pressure test, which involved sealing up the nose/cockpit/Qbay volume, with a ‘bonnet’ (my word) on the cockpit (the canopy is the weak point). It went well and they quickly returned to instrument support. The goal for each of these events is to treat ‘hands on’ time as it would occur on a flight day, to get an idea of the timing and sequence of instrument upload. Mike Kapitzke is true to his word; he is modifying the upload plan with each event and by the time we are all in Salina things will run like clockwork.

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The ER-2 crew (and Dan before he left) all took turns trying to troubleshoot an issue shared by some of Harvard instruments, WI-ICOS and HAL: their instrument network cards were not functioning properly when on the EIP simulator or when on the plane, but they worked on lab power. Most agreed it was a ‘dirty power’ problem. In the end they incorporated an ethernet switch in line and that did the trick for each of them. When Fred and Eric returned, they said they had the same problem on a mission late last year, and completely separately had converged on the same solution.

Lots of little things come up throughout each day, but so far we are resolving them and juggling some other tasks and meetings. Things are going smoothly. Caitlin is becoming very familiar with the ESPO Sony camera, and we had an AFRC photographer here in recent days.

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Photographing the photographer.

Yesterday, June 9, we had the first check flight. High gusts were predicted for landing time, so there was a possibility of pushing to Thursday, and there were some pilot scheduling conflicts if that needed to happen. Brian successfully bartered for their time on Thursday (today); this may have involved beer (haha). But ER-2 took off Wednesday, right on time. And it landed right on time. DPOPS, the newest instrument, had stayed late the night prior, till almost 8 pm, to incorporate some mechanical, electrical and software improvements. When they were installed before flight, something wasn’t right. They had to remove the nose, pull out their box, and revert to the old software. They finished and re-checked *just* (seconds) before the 8 am brief. The ones working the change and feeling the heat were the young team members, Yao Wei and Craig. It was a neat experience for them and a feather in their cap.

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Some last minute changes for DPOPS before the check flight.

Yesterday was a learning experience for me with MTS. It’s very different than the old version! If you have not tried it, you should, when we fly again on Monday June 14. Everyone was texting or calling Aaron Duley. He was really tested yesterday (as was his team, and David Van Gilst). What a trooper. I’m including a screen shot from the test flight.

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MTS2 screen shot.

Today everyone will be examining data. About half the instruments do not send real time data, so we saw nothing in MTS for those teams. Some hope to have this capability later, while in Salina. Some are saving that challenge for next year.

Melissa Martin and Derek Rudovic are visiting AFRC, meeting with airborne science managers. And Emily Schaller is here. I did not get a chance to chat with her much; it was flight day. But I assume she is prepping for SARP. Most of you have heard; she has found a new position and she feels it is perfect for her. Everyone is wishing her the best.

Today, June 10, we are going to have an instrument show-and-tell.  While the teams are enamored with the staged integration, it has not left much room for socializing during work hours.  When one instrument has down time, another is working with the aircraft crew.  With the CST and initial check flight going well, the teams are becoming comfortable with their timing and are excited to hear about what everyone else is working on.  There will also be a videographer on hand to interview some of the participants afterwards.

That’s it for now from 703. One more update (hopefully) after the coming two flights.

Bernie and Caitlin










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