Subject: HRI-SIM TV2 Flash report                                             
Date: Wed, 21 Aug 2002 23:57:49 -0400                                         
From: Dennis Wellnitz <wellnitz@astro.umd.edu>                                
                                                                              
Hi all,                                                                       
                                                                              
Last night we actually did finish up the JPL blackbody tests shortly          
after 9 pm MDT.                                                               
                                                                              
Today (Wednesday) we convened at 9:00 am MDT to plan our work for the         
day.  Early results from the CCD tests indicate that we will recommend        
warming up starting at the end of the calibration at the current SIM          
bench temperature, which places the start of warm-up sometime Thursday        
evening.  Warming will take until Saturday morning, when we will run          
safe to mate and then connect up the CCD.  We will also disconnect the        
IR stimulator and check the voltages being provided by the electronics,       
and then re-connect it.  We plan to start cool-down on Saturday, and          
monitor the CCD operation every 10 degrees C of cooling over Saturday         
and Sunday.  By Monday we should be able to start re-alignment of the         
telescope to the IR spectrograph, and by Tuesday we should be able to         
resume calibration measurements.                                              
                                                                              
Extended coverage by Ken Klaasen, Bill Smythe, Stef McLaughlin, and           
myself has been arranged to cover the extended calibration period             
(through August 31).  However, if anyone else would like to volunteer as      
a replacement, you would be quite welcome: just let me know you are           
interested.                                                                   
                                                                              
Today we ran a series of tests using the tungsten lamp with sapphire          
window, using a large variety of illumination levels (ND 3, 2, 1, and 0)      
at various locations along the slit.  Then we combined the tungsten lamp      
with the gold integrating sphere to produce spatial and spectral flat         
field data.  Finally we inserted the CO and CH4 gas cells ahead of the        
SIRTF black body.  The absorption lines from each were clearly visible,       
providing confirming wavelengths and absorption profiles in the areas         
near 4.66 microns and 3.32 microns, respectively.                             
                                                                              
Although we had a delay of a couple of hours due to ITOC file transfer        
problems, the day was extremely successful.                                   
                                                                              
We finished data taking for today at about 9:45 pm MDT.                       
                                                                              
Tomorrow we plan to convene at 9:00 am MDT to review status and plan the      
work of the day.                                                              
                                                                              
Please let me know if you have any comments or questions.                     
                                                                              
If you would prefer not to receive these Flash reports on HRI-SIM TV2,        
please let me know.                                                           
                                                                              
                Dennis