Remaining instruments are being delivered to the Dryden Operations Aircraft Facility in Palmdale, CA so that they can be installed on the DC-8 and tested for operational reliability during flight tests.  These remaining instruments include the LVIS, gravimeter and the DMS camera.  “Piggyback” instruments that are being installed are the AVOCET, DACOM/DLH and the WAS.  The next test flight is schedule for Friday October 2 and another is tentatively scheduled for the week of October 5 - 9.

Issues related to weight limitations in the DC-8’s cargo hold are still being discussed.  The current plan is to transport extra cargo to Chile on a U.S. Air Force supplied C-17.  However, there is currently no guarantee that the C-17 will be available, so mission scientists and logistics coordinators have been brainstorming a contingency plan in the event that the C-17 is not available.  Making the situation more complicated is the fact that OIB personnel will not know whether or not the C-17 is guaranteed to be available until October 7, which is the day that cargo uploading is scheduled to occur in preparation for a transit flight to Chile on October 9.

Yet another topic of discussion is the Environmental Impact Statement that is being requested by NSF.  Of considerable importance is the avoidance of bird colonies during low-level flights over Antarctica.  The location of penguin colonies on Antarctica can be detected using satellite imagery.  Maps of these colonies will be provided by NSF and used for comparison with the DC-8’s flight lines.  These flight lines - generated for maximum data collection and observation of ice loss - are almost finalized.  But making sure the location of these flight lines will have minimal impact on bird colonies is a very important goal.

Click here for a description on how satellite imagery is used to detect penguin colonies on Antarctica.

ARCTAS Movie

The beginning of science flights for Operation ICEBridge is approximately one month away and mission scientists are in the midst of loading and testing instruments on the DC-8.  The first set of test flights occurred about three weeks ago and was used to test the Airborne Topographic Mapper (ATM).   

The ATM at Nadir 2 - picture taken from outside the DC-8.

The ATM at Nadir 2 - picture taken inside the DC-8.

On Thursday September 17, another test flight involved the Multichannel Coherent Radar Depth Sounder (MCoRDS), which is being supplied by the University of Kansas.  MCoRDS will be used to measure the thickness of ice sheets as the DC-8 flies over Antarctica.  The other two KU radars, the ultra wide band snow radar and the radar altimeter, are still being installed on the DC-8. Test flights for the gravimeter will take place October 1 and 2.

The MCoRDS radar antenna at Nadir 7.  The position of this antenna changes the aerodynamics of the DC-8.

One issue that is being discussed is the weight limitations for the DC-8 when transporting mission equipment to Punta Arenas, Chile.  It has become evident to mission scientists that the weight of the equipment needing transportation exceeds what the DC-8 can accommodate with the aerodynamic loads induced by the MCoRDS radar antenna, so a C-17 cargo plane, provided by the U.S. Air Force, will most likely be used for transporting excess equipment.

Click here for a time-lapsed video of instrument uploading on the DC-8 for the ARCTAS mission.

NASA’s Airborne Science Program is teaming up with the ICESat program to guarantee that a continuous set of ice mass and area data will be available to scientists studying the impact of global climate change.  Operation ICEBridge (OIB) involves using sensors similar to the ones on board ICESat-I, except they won’t be on board an earth-orbiting satellite. Instead, these sensors will be loaded onto NASA’s suborbital platforms, the P-3 and the DC-8.  The sensors will be flown on the DC-8 over Antarctica during October-November 2009 during approximately 181 flight hours taking place over 17 flights.  The DC-8 crew and mission scientists are currently in the pre-mission planning phase, where instruments that will be used during OIB are tested for their reliable operation and safe integration with the aircraft.

Sensors currently being tested and loaded onto the DC-8 include:

• Airborne Topographic Mapper (ATM) – a scanning LIDAR developed by NASA Wallops Flight Facility scientists and used by NASA to map the topography, and thickness, of Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets.
• NASA’s Laser Vegetation Imaging Sensor (LVIS) – a scanning laser altimeter instrument developed by NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and used to collect data on topography.
• Applanix Position and Orientation System (POS)
• Various radars – designed and supplied by the University of Kansas, the Multichannel Coherent Radar Depth Sounder (MCoRDS), an ultra wide band snow radar and a band radar altimeter will be used to measure ice thickness, measure the snow on top of the ice and measure the Antarctic terrain, respectively.
• Digital Mapping System (DMS) Camera
• Gravimeter – used to measure the local gravitational field, provided by Columbia University

As well as three in-situ atmospheric composition instruments including:

• Atmospheric CO2 (AVOCET) – will take in-situ measurement of atmospheric carbon dioxide over Antarctica.
• Differential Absorption CO Measurements/Diode Laser Hygrometer (DACOM/DLH) – will measure atmospheric CO and water vapor concentrations.
• Whole Air Sampler (WAS) – provided by UC Irvine, will take in-situ measurements of atmospheric gases.

For more information, please go to NASA’s Operation ICEBridge Website.