[11/20/03] Responses have been received to the Preliminary Request for Proposals (RFP) for the HIAPER ICS. HPO and ATD personnel are presently reviewing these documents and are working with the respondents to have technical questions answered. It is presently planned that the final ICS RFP will be released in early 2004.

[09/30/03] Design and construction of the power distribution boxes to be used in the GV cabin equipment racks started.

[02/20/04] Gulfstream personnel completed modeling studies of two candidate wing pods that were being considered for HIAPER. The HPO received the study results in late December 2003.

Initally two pods were selected that were considered to be viable candidates that can be purchased "off the shelf". The pods are used primarily by the military. They would require some modifications to the interior to accommodate instrumentation. These two pods are referred to as the Sargent Fletcher (manufacturer) F-16 cargo pod (model NGCP) and the P-3 400 gallon pod (model ATP-D1). The Gulfstream aerodynamic study showed that both pods had the potential to restrict the flight envelope of the GV due to drag, shockwaves, induced flutter and loss of lift to varying degrees. The F-16 pod was considered to be the least aerodynamically clean and would need modification of its shape. Neither pod has been ruled out however, Gulfstream and NCAR jointly agreed that a smaller more aerodynamically clean pod than either of these would be a better candidate for a first deployed wing pod that would give the GV the opportunity to operate over the entire flight envelope with pods in place.

NCAR has designed a new shape (the "NCAR" pod) that should meet these criteria. The NCAR pod has a constant diameter section 48 inches long with a 20 inch diameter and is 164 inches from the nose tip to tail end. When mounted below the wing, the top of the pod will be approximately 17 inches below the wing at its lowest point (this wing to pod distance will be greater fore and aft of the lowest point). NCAR has asked Gulfstream engineers to proceed with aero, loads and stress analyses of this new shape.     [more information]

[09/30/03] NCAR/ATD personnel presently working on a design for the GV equipment racks. It is presently expected that the rack design will be completed in November 2003 and that rack fabrication will start at the end of March 2004.

General rack specifications:

• Standard 19-in. wide instrumentation/equipment interface
• Rack volume: 22.50 in. wide, 26.0 in. deep, 49.75 in. tall
• Capable of supporting 340 lbs. of equipment with a center of gravity (CG) 29.0 in. above the floor attachment plane

[09/30/03] HIAPER Project Office (HPO) and ATD staff presently performing survey of commercially available SATCOM systems for possible use on the GV. It is anticipated that a Request for Proposals (RFP) for the HIAPER SATCOM system will be released in Winter 2004.

Desired general specifications for GV SATCOM:

• Global coverage (if possible)
• Multi-channel
• High bandwidth (current achievable rate is 128 Kbits/sec)
• Simultaneous voice and data transmission capabilities
• Interfaced to ICS system for easier communications