Terra Underflight / Nambia Coast / Marine Stratus (9/11/00)
-------------------------------------------------------------
Long flight (8 hr) of 9/11/00 became even longer when high
winds at the airport delayed landing.  After 9 1/2 hours
the pilot finally put it down in strong crosswinds.  SHIS
collected a large amount of data (2.8GB).  Mostly clear sky but
some thin marine stratus off the coast.  One hour of orbit
data over Pietersburg before descent (Good GIFTS data?).
SHIS worked perfectly in nadir only mode.  Data looks good so far.

Today (9/12/00):  No fly day.
-----------------------------
After talking to Steve Platnick about the next mission objectives
over the Nambian desert, we decided to take advantage
of Dan Deslover's experience and put the SHIS into scanning mode.
[Yes, we removed the scan port cover as well.]
A full ground power up test is planned today to help diagnose
power problems Air MISR and LAS are having.  They both
are losing power in flight.

Tomorrow (9/13/00):  Terra Underflight
----------------------------------------
Another good Terra underflight off the Nambian
Coast (west coast of Africa) plus one or more
desert targets (another salt pan).

General Comment:
-------------------
The sense is that the pressure to fly every day is off now
that the Safari objectives have been largely met and
the rest of the mission should be fairly easy with an
emphasis on Terra validation opportunities.

-bob knuteson
 Peitersburg, S.A.
 9/12/00
--------------