Plan of the Day
Posted On: 08/18/02 02:13 PM CDT
Next Flight Date: 08/19/02
Altus Status: Fly
Hands Off: 10:00 AM EDT (1400 UTC)
Estimated Takeoff: 11:30 AM EDT (1530 UTC)
Estimated Landing: 6:30 PM EDT (2230 UTC)
Daily Objectives:
Investigate isolated thunderstorms in ACES target domain (Everglades and nearby Ocean).
The maintenance work and checkout of the aircraft goes well and all is go for Monday flight. Weather is good today and same type of weather pattern shows promise for tomorrow.
Payload/aircraft interface checks will be made this afternoon to verify no problems associated with Altus software change implemented to prevent false sensor interpretation identified during first science flight ( Flt 85, 8/4/02).
Meetings:
9 AM EDT, Weather Briefing and aircraft/payload status.
Mission debrief will occur ~ half hour after landing.
Announcements:
This is the half way point of the ACES campaign. We have completed two weeks of flights on the Altus for a total of 21.4 hours. We have overflown various thunderstorms obtaining great science data. We have overflown a relatively small thunderstorm from beginning to end (entire life cycle).
We have two weeks and 48.6 hours of flight time left. We are considering extending for one week, if needed, to fly the entire flight time budget of 70 hours. Please let Tony know if you have any conflicts with an additional week.
