of the RadioAstron Teleconference 5
Willem Baan chaired the
teleconference.
The agenda of the
teleconference and the list of participants are attached as an Appendix A to
the Minutes.
The main intent of the
teleconference was to discuss current status of mission development.
1.
Kardashev informed the participants about the project status. He ensured
the participants that funding for 2004 is sufficient to provide development of
all scientific payload at the ASC as well as to cover the development of the
spacecraft bus at LA. In particular, he explained that the new spacecraft bus
will be developed for the mission by LA. The bus will include new devices
operating in unhermetic (vacuum) condition; and such construction will reduce
the total mass of the spacecraft. The main reason for such modifications of the
bus is the fact that many devices used for the old bus are currently outdated,
while the new devices already exist and were used for different space projects
in flight. The new bus itself will be used for two missions before the
RadioAstron flight. The new bus will have guaranty operation live time of 5
years or even more. Kardashev ensured the participants that replacement of the
bus will not cause delay in RadioAstron mission development and launch.
Kardashev also informed the participants that ASC has stopped negotiation with
ESA about on-board H-maser for RadioAstron. Instead, ASC will have contract
with the Russian firm in Nizhnii Novgorod for the development and manufacturing
of such H-maser; necessary additional funding will be provided by the RSA.
2.
Andreyanov informed the participants about the progress in the
development of flight models for the science payload. He stated that the flight
models for 92-cm and 1.35-cm receivers, formatter, BUAS and VIRK will be
delivered to the ASC to the end of 2004. As for the engineering models of the
science payload, they will be used at the ASC for the additional tests in
laboratory in order to improve the performance in accordance with the results
of Pushchino tests. The SRT itself will be used in LA for vibration tests. The
flight models of on-board 6-cm receiver which in response on the request from
the EVN were delivered to ESA office in Moscow for shipment to ASTRON/JIVE; all
problems with Russian custom seem to be solved. The situation with 18-cm
receiver is not clear yet.
3.
There were several questions to Andreyanov concerning the results of
Pushchino tests. Foreign participants asked ASC to distribute the Report on the
tests in Russian language as pdf-file.
4.
Likhachev explained to the participants his efforts to investigate the
problem of compatibility of receiving system at the ground radio telescopes
with the RadioAstron 22-GHz receiver operation in MFS mode. He found that 10
VLA dishes will be able to operate in such mode in 2006. The possibility also
exists at the GBT and some other big radio telescope. Altunin said that DSN
70-m antennas may be tested on operation in the MFS mode too, but it is
necessary to present formal proposal to the DSN Program Committee in order to
get observing time. The problem of correlation of such tests was discussed. It
was decided that Likhachev will prepare the report on the subject to the next
RadioAstron meeting.
5.
The next teleconference was appointed
on September 9 2004.
Agenda for the
Teleconference on RadioAstron on May 27 2004.
List of participants:
1.
Andreyanov V., ASC, Russia
2.
Altunin V.I., JPL, USA
3.
Baan W.A., ASTRON, The Netherlands
4.
Cannon W., CRESTech, Canada
5.
D'Addario L., NRAO, USA
6.
Gurvits L., JIVE, The Netherlands
7.
Van't Klooster K., ESA, The Netherlands
8.
Kanevsky B., ASC, Russia
9.
Kardashev N.S., ASC, Russia
10. Kellermann K., NRAO, USA
11. Kovalev Yu, NRAO/ASC
12. Lobanov A., MPIfR,
Germany
13. Langston
G., NRAO, USA
14. Likhachev
S., ASC, Russia
15. Lobanov
A. MPIfR, Germany
16. Popov M.V., ASC, Russia
17. Preston R. JPL, USA
18. Romney J., NRAO, USA
19. Slysh V.I., ASC, Russia
20. Vasilkov V.I., ASC,
Russia