9-Aug-2021: Preparing to fly

Suspending the cryo- sampler in the gondola

In the last days the equipment has been installed and mounted in the TWIN gondola. We have in the flight package:

• several Aircores
• a cryosampler for large whole air samples (BONBON)
• a bag sampler (Big LISA)
• two optical instruments for in-situ measurements during flight (Pico-SDLA)

… plus supporting power, electronics, communication etc

The gondola had to be prepared for today for the mechanical verification, electronic tests and official weighting (see below). All these went well, including the weight which at 313 Kg is within the planning.

Regarding the flight plans: we now have meteo briefings every day, where meteo conditions and simulated flight scenarios are discussed. There are situations in which flying is not possible, like rain or icing conditions, or strong winds. Right now it is raining continuously, but we may have a flight window tomorrow night (Tue to Wed). It will probably be decided at the next meteo briefing – for now we have to be ready to fly.