Day 7 - Another Day of Satellite Data Testing, Antenna Tours, etc.

Today the DMSP team focused on testing additional passes and resolving the small "challenge" with our Aerospace analysis terminal.  The team began with breakfast at 0700 and then made it to the JSOC by 0745 to catch the first pass of the day shift.  Testing proceeded smoothly after we re-installed the latest software baseline of the common user terminal (CUT) and the associated device drivers.  We are grateful to our Aerospace ETG partners, especially Mr. Jerry Michaelson, for his remote support and guidance to resolve our issue.  This afternoon we tracked four successive passes and never lost sync with any of the data.

We also had to say goodbye and well wishes to our Harris teammates (Dave Miller and Tim Sloan) as they were scheduled on a late morning C17 flight back to Christchurch NZ.  I cannot say enough positive things about these guys as they really can accomplish miracles and deliver on there agreed upon schedule.  Kudos to their peers in Omaha and Suitland for stellar support at AFWA and the SOCC.  The outcomes of the group's testing show very low data latency on both the stored mission data as well as the new real-time data; the data transfers complete within seconds of the file closeout.  Tomorrow we also say goodbye to Raytheon's command control and communications segment (C3S) lead, Ms. Colleen Higgins, a she's spent 10+ weeks here; essentially since the McMurdo build season began.  Colleen has been a tremendous engineer spearheading the cross program issues from the Raytheon side and primary interface to Harris and the DMSP SPO.  She gave the NASA JPSS and SPO/Aerospace group a nice tour of the two JPSS receptor sites and antennas as well as the supporting infrastructure (power, fiber optic cabling, roads, etc.) that makes the McMurdo C3S function.  The nickel tour was great and the team was able to capture much of it via digital photographs.  Ms. Valerie Mickelsen will assume Colleen's duties, something she's fully prepared to do as has been demonstrated during our visit.  One issue for JPSS to work is the possible MG2 antenna installation as their site is ~100 yards from the JPSS FINES site and MG2 will uplink/command in S-band which is our mission data recovery frequency range. 

Tonight the team will meet for a farewell dinner at the local "burger bar" for a greasy hamburger, fries and an adult beverage as this food always tastes better because it is NOT the station's "galley" and the venue offers music and camaraderie.