May 12 Mission Science Report

On the back of a good mission yesterday.......we planned mission this morning over the Front Range of NE Colorado for ER-2 and CHILL with nominal 12 UTC take off.  We checked at 2 AM (7 UTC) and the precip was socked in- decided to go with 12 UTC take off.  Checked again at 4:30 AM (0930 UTC) and the precip band along the Front Range had decreased a bit in scale and intensity- a little nervous but still ok.  Checked again at 1100 UTC and consulted with Steve Rutledge at CSU as we were all seeing the precip become more patchy and weak in the CHILL vicinity (was no longer raining at Steve R.'s house either).  We all agreed that trend was in the negative direction- precip not likely to continue; so the mission was scrubbed for ER-2 at 1100 UTC.  ER-2 was then parked in the hangar fueled and ready to go for next mission (next week after Offutt runway opens again- 1300 UTC on Tuesday May 17). 

As luck (or physics) would have it precip built back in to Front Range and in the end,  this would have been a really good mission to fly.  Basically, we misjudged the evolution of things on this one. 

Down day called at Offutt on Friday, and Citation placed on only weak alert here.  It is not anticipated that we will have targets to fly till midweek of next week (we'll be watching of course)- when an active few days seems to be indicated.

Planning a brief field science review/show and tell on Monday morning the 16th after the 0900 briefing.

Walt P / Larry C