|
2007
|
|
| September |
Paper from 203 flight entitled "Composition of Primary Cosmic-Ray Nuclei at High Energies" is submitted to the Astrophysical Journal.
|
| September |
Design studies for an additional Aerogel detector begin.
|
| April - September |
Aaron Martell and Kenny Rudinger test the Transition Radiation and dE/dx detectors for aliveness. Instrument in good shape.
|
| July 3 - 11 |
TRACER results presented at 30th International Cosmic Ray Conference in Merida, Mexico. Three papers presented in all (see results pages). Muller, Boyle, Obermier, Horandel, Romero-Wolf and Ward attend.
|
| January |
Andreas Obermier begins PhD with TRACER group. Andreas is from Kalrushe, Germany.
|
|
2006
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|
| October 1 |
TRACER arrives back to Chicago in one piece, via ship from Resolute Bay to Montreal and by road to Chicago.
|
| August 15 |
Jojo Boyle prepares TRACER for shipment back to Chicago from Resolute Bay, Nunavut, Canada
|
| July |
Christian Hoppner begins PhD in Hadron Physics at Munich
John Ward begins PhD with VERITAS in Dublin
|
| July 15 |
Paul Waltz leads recovery of TRACER from Somerset Island, Nunavut, Canada.
|
| July 13 |
TRACER flight terminated on Somerset Island, Nunavut, Canada.
|
| July 8 |
TRACER launched from Kiruna, Sweden, floating west at 34 knots and at 130,000 feet.
|
| June 23 |
First attempt at launch.
|
| June 22 |
NASA Mission Readiness Review. Decleration of Flight Ready.
|
| June 21 |
End to end testing through NASA systems.
|
| June 19 |
Testing of long range telemetry through IRIDIUM Satellite network
|
| June 18 |
Testing of long range telemetry through NASA TDRSS Satellite network
|
| June 17 |
Testing of 1Mb/s Esrange downlink antennas using High Frequency S-band telemetry
|
| June 15 |
Testing of NASA Support Instrument Package
|
| June 12 |
Prof. Masakatsu Ichimura arrives at Esrange from Hirosaki,Japan
|
| June 11 |
NASA antennas for GPS,TDRSS and IRIDIUM satellites installed
|
| June 11 |
NASA Support Instrument Package installed
|
| June 8 |
Maximo Ave Pernas arrives at Esrange from Chicago
|
| June 6 |
Installation of flight bottles onto instrument completed
Construction of radiation shielding begins
|
| June 5 |
Prof. Dietrich Muller, Casey Smith and Paul Waltz arrive at Esrange from Chicago
|
| June 3 |
TRACER arrives at Esrange. Unloaded and preparation for launch begins
|
| June 1 |
Jojo Boyle, Christian Hoppner and John E Ward arrive at Esrange Rocket Launching Facility, Kiruna, Sweden
|
| May 21 |
TRACER airfreighted to Esrange Rocket Launching Facility (Swedish Space Corporation), Kiruna, Sweden
|
| May 19 |
NASA Mission Readiness Review for the TRACER payload
|
| May 17 |
Final NASA integration testing complete for TRACER
|
| May 14 |
Solar Array and Photo-Votaic System Checkout
|
| May 12 |
Line of Sight Telemetry Interfaces tested at 1Mbit per second downlink
|
| May 7 |
NASA Satellite Telemetry Checkout using TDRSS and IRIDIUM Complete
|
| May 5 |
NASA Antennas for GPS, TDRSS, IRIDIUM Satellites Installed
|
| May 5 |
NASA Support Instrument Package Installed
|
| May 1 |
TRACER leaves Chicago for NSBF in Palestine, Texas.
|
| April 10-27 |
Vacuum chamber testing at NASA's Plum Brook Station in Sandusky, Ohio.
|
| March 1-23 |
Visit by Prof Masakatsu Ichimura. Preparation of Line of Sight Decoding
|
| March 15 |
Christian Hoppner leaves Chicago for Germany
|
| March |
Read out of Scintillation/Cerenkov Counters using new FPGA readout System
|
| February |
Read out of TRD using new FPGA readout System
|
| February |
Pressure Vessel Integration to Instrument
|
| January |
FPGA Readout System Fabrication begun
|
| January |
Electronic Integration of Pressure vessel begun
|
|
2005
|
|
| December |
Mechanical work on Pressure vessel work completed
|
| December |
Restack of Scintillation, Cerenkov, Ionization and TR Counters Completed
|
| November |
Scintillation and Cerenkov counters for TRACER completed
|
| October |
Additonal Cerenkov Counter Fabricated to improve TRACER Charge Resolution
|
| October |
Dynamic Range of TRACER TRD extended to include Boron and Carbon
|
| October |
FPGA System chosen for TRACER DAQ and Line of Sight Telemetry
|
| September |
TRACER preparation for 21 day Arctic Balloon flight commenced
|
| January |
Lee Walsh and Jesse Marshall join the TRACER undergrad team
Andrew Romero-Wolf leaves TRACER for ANITA and Hawaii
John E Ward leaves Chicago for Ireland
|
| July 16-23 |
TRACER Results Presented at Transition Radiation Workshop, Ostuni, Italy
|
| August |
NASA Project Initiation Conference for Arctic Flight in 2006, NASA HQ
|
| July 16-23 |
TRACER Results Presented at International Cosmic Ray Conference, Pune, India
|
| June |
John E Ward rejoins the TRACER undergrad team
|
| April 17-19 |
First TRACER Results Presented at APS Meeting in Tampa
|
| January |
Elliot Brannon, Mike LeBlanc and Mike Miller join the TRACER undergrad team
|
|
2004
|
|
| September |
TRACER TRD Checkout complete. TRD fit for reflight. John E Ward leaves Chicago |
| June |
Testing of TRACER TRD begins. John E Ward arrives in Chicago |
| March |
TRACER instrument arrives Chicago |
| Februray |
Prof Masakatsu Ichimura joins the TRACER team in Chicago. |
| Februray 12 |
TRACER instrument leaves Antarctica on the resupply ship. Estimated
arrival in Chicago at end of March |
| January 22 |
TRACER instrument is airlifted from Taylor Dome by a C-130 military
plane back to McMurdo Station. |
| January 21 |
TRACER instrument is picked up by the Science Traverse team returning
from a 2 month overland journey from the South Pole. The payload is
relocated to Taylor Dome. |
| January 5 |
Science teams leaves Antarctica. |
| January 3 |
Recovery of TRACER underway. Dave Pernic dismantles the lower section
of the payload and it is carried in sling beneath a UH-1 Huey
helicopter back to McMurdo. |
2003
|
|
| December 31 |
Poor visibility restricts recovery of the instrument. Pilots cannot
land at the recovery sight as they cannot distinguish snow from sky. |
| December 30 |
High winds prevent take off of Twin Otter. |
| December 29 |
Weather closes in preventing recovery. |
| December 28 |
TRACER payload loacted after Twin Otter flight crew follow 10 foot
wide furrow in the snow. Instrument is intact and secured. Science Hard Disks and
NSBF Disks are recovered. |
| December 27 |
TRACER payload terminated from balloon over Victoria Land on the East
Antarctic Plateau. Instrumnet falls on a parachute to a safe snow
field. Parachute fails to deploy from instrument and TRACER is
dragged six miles across the snow. Payload comes to rest within
100 miles of McMurdo Station. |
| December 26 |
TRACER passes within 80 miles of McMurdo Station at 127,00ft. Appears as large
white object in the sky. Balloon stalls for a period of hours over the
Royal Society Mountains. |
| December 25 |
Balloon begins a northward drift and runs paralled to the edge the Ross Ice Shelf. |
| December 23 |
Science team lose contact with TRACER instrument. Failure of primary power
system terminates data taking. |
| December 22 |
TRACER continues on at 127,000 ft towards Marie Byrd Land. |
| December 21 |
TRACER passes the 90 degree mark and continues on to Ellesworth Land
over West Antarctica. |
| December 20 |
TRACER flies over the Ronne Ice Shelf. More sunlight is reflected off
the ice warming the balloon and we regain altitude to over 127,000ft. |
| December 18 |
TRACER passes the Grenwich Meridian over Dronning Maud Land. |
| December 17 |
TRACER is out over Princess Elizabeth Land in East Antarctica where the continent rises to over 4,000 meters. |
| December 15 |
TRACER passes over Lake Vostok, the coldest place on earth. The balloon becomes cold and drops to 120,000 ft. |
| December 13 |
TRACER reaches float altitude of 125,000ft at 00:30 local time. |
| December 12 |
TRACER launched on a 40 million cubic foot balloon at 6:09 GMT. |
| December 11 |
Flight requirements, plan and checkout meeting |
| December 10 |
Herecules LC-130 ski plane checkout |
| December 9 |
144,000 cubic foot Pathfinder balloon launched |
| December 8 |
Twin Otter Flight Checkout |
| December 5 |
Launch window opens |
| December 1 |
Condition 1 Storm : All teams stranded at Williams Field |
| November 30 |
Condition 2 Snow Storm : All teams stranded at McMurdo Station |
| November 27 |
Jörg Hörandel arrives in Antarctica |
| November 26 |
NASA/NSBF Aircraft Seat Pack Checkout |
| November 25 |
NASA/NSBF Integration Hang Test |
| November 23 |
TRACER Pressure vessel closed and pressure tested |
| November 21 |
Dietrich Muller arrives in Antarctica |
| November 19 |
NASA/NSBF Omni-Solar Array Constructed |
| November 18 |
Gary Kelderhouse & Jojo Boyle at Snow School |
| November 15 |
NASA/NSBF Satellite Communication Test with TDRSS Satellite |
| November 14 |
NASA/NSBF Line of Sight Communication Test |
| November 12 |
NSBF Line Of Sight Interface installed and tested |
| November 8 |
TRACER Instrument turned on. Check out of HV & Gas Systems |
| November 7 |
NSBF SIP mounted and operational |
| November 5 |
TRACER Lecture at Crary Lab |
| November 3 |
TRACER upacked, lengthened and pressure vessel installed |
| October 30 |
TRACER Instrument arrives in Antartica |
| October 28 |
TRACER Shipping Containers arrive at Williams Field |
| October 27 |
Transfer of University of Chicago Science & Engineering team to McMurdo Station, Antarctica on a US Airforce C-130 |
| October 26 |
Issue of Extreme Cold Weather gear (ECW) |
| October 21 |
Arrival of University of Chicago Science & Engineering team at Christchurch, New Zealnd |
| September 15 |
TRACER Instrument transported from Palestine to Chicago for commercial air flight from Chicago to Christchurch, New Zealand |
| August 22 |
Support equipment shipped from Port Hueneme, California to Christchurch, New Zealand |
| August 12 |
NASA Mission Readiness Review |
| August 1 |
Electronic & Mechanical compatibility Hang Test at NSBF |
| July 29 |
Antarctic logistics meeting with Raytheon Polar Services, Denver, Colorado |
| July 7 |
Arrive at NSBF, Palestine, Texas for integration and testing |
| May 17-20 |
Vacuum testing at NASA Plum Brook Center, Sandusky, Ohio |
| April 22 |
TRACER chosen as 2003/04 Antarctic LDB Mission |
| February |
Northern Long Duration Balloon Flight from Fairbanks, Alaska cancelled |
|
| 2002 |
Northern Long Duration Balloon Flight from Fairbanks, Alaska cancelled |
|
| 2001 |
Northern Long Duration Balloon Flight from Fairbanks, Alaska cancelled |
|
|
2000
|
|
| March |
Northern Long Duration Balloon Flight from Fairbanks, Alaska cancelled |
| January |
Instrument Calibration at FermiLab, Batavia, Illinois |
|
|
1999
|
|
| September |
30 hour test flight at NSBF, Fort Sumner, New Mexico |
|
|
1998
|
|
| September |
Start of hardware construction of reduced-size instrument TRACER-Lite (2 x 2 meters) for Long Duration Balloon flight in Northern Hemisphere |
|
|
1996
|
|
| September |
Initial design studies for TRACER : very large instrument for standard balloon flights (4 x 4 meters ).
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