Colleagues,

*** Important! ***
If Air Force AMC aircraft are needed, please read carefully First, please
forgive any delays you may have experienced in receiving responses to 
your emails requesting space for shipments on the planned AMC aircraft.

We are obtaining transport on the Air Force aircraft for next to no 
expense and we are requesting more aircraft than for any other mission to 
date.  For the AMC validation request to be processed and approved, I 
must have detailed information on what exactly we are shipping on these
aircraft. Although I have not yet officially asked for this information,
I have already received an overwhelming demand from investigators wanting 
to ship equipment and gases.  Below I will give some guidance on these 
aircraft and what you can and cannot expect to ship on these aircraft.

Second, the space in Arena Arctica will be extremely tight and the SOLVE 
budget has been stretched to its limit.  In order for me to acquire funds 
for additional lab space, we would have to cut the very members of the 
science team that need the lab space.  Investigator teams can expect one 
or maybe two tables to work on and should plan their setup accordingly.  
If a team brings more people and equipment than we can support in the labs 
then our only option is the hangar floor.  Although heated, you will not 
want to be there when the hangar doors are open.

Estimating how much space is available on each aircraft is very difficult
without having the equipment on hand. The C-141s have 13 pallets and the
C-130s have only 5.  These pallets are 8' x 8' and can be loaded 8' high 
with the exception of the last pallet which is only allowed to be 6' high. 
In addition the aircraft have a maximum weight they can carry when making 
overseas missions (about 60,000 lbs for the C-141s and 25,000 lbs. for the 
C-130s). We have arranged each aircraft to fill a specific function within 
this project:

1) A C-141 leaving Wright-Patterson AFB on November 1st, dedicated to OMS
   gondolas and equipment
2) A C-130 leaving Dryden around the second week of November for DC-8 PI
   (3.5 pallets) and aircraft ground support equipment (1.5 pallets)
3) A C-141 leaving Dryden the first week of December with ER-2 GSE (11
   pallets) and possibly DC-8 PI equipment (2 pallets)
4) A C-141, which will transit with the ER-2 in January with ER-2 PI 
   equipment.

To date, I have received requests asking to ship a total of over 200 
bottles of gases on these aircraft.  This is not possible.  These aircraft 
are NOT for carrying hazardous cargo but for equipment that is needed up to 
the transit and immediately after. Although I am allowed to send small 
amounts of compatible gases, the more I have on the request the less chance 
I have of getting the approval.  We have been in contact with the local gas
company in Sweden and they seem to have most of what PIs want to send.  The
following gases are ones I specifically have asked about.  If there are 
others please let us know.

Ultra High Purity Nitrogen (99,999 % - 99,9995% or 99,9999%)
Liquid Nitrogen
NO in Nitrogen (40 ppm)
N2O
NO 500 (99.0%)
N20 in Nitrogen
Helium
Liquid Helium
Oxygen
Dry air (H2O < 3 ppm)
CO2  in air
CO (99.0%, 99.9%, 99.95% or 99,997%
CO/CH4/N2O/CO2 in air
Argon
CH4 (99.5%, 99.95%, 99.995%, or 99,9995%)

Even having in excess of 30 inert gas bottles on these aircraft could 
cause problems, not to mention having combinations of gases that are not
compatible (a decision the Air Force makes, not the project office) If 
the number of requests for shipping gases is not dramatically reduced, we 
will be possibly forced to make a surface shipment (which will introduce 
another problem because of funding constraints).

Teams are encouraged to send as much equipment as possible to Kiruna 
early. Teams will not be allowed to send office furniture, bicycles,
refrigerators, or other items not directly related to the instruments on 
the Air Force aircraft. If the teams do not voluntarily reduce the amount 
of equipment, we will be forced to decide what equipment is most important 
for the success of the campaign.  We would regret being in this position, 
and we are sure that you also do not want risk not having supplies 
available in the field.

Finally, all items sent via these aircraft must have packing lists 
Accompanying them.  This packing list is for Swedish customs and needs to
include:

Item:
Manufacturer:
Part:
Serial number:
Estimated Cost:

The purpose of this email is primarily to alert the teams to the shipping 
situation and give everyone enough time to plan accordingly.  The project 
office does not need actual equipment lists from each team.  At this time, 
the only items we need to know about are any gases that we know can not be
purchased in Sweden.  I'm sorry for any trouble that this may cause but a 
last minute commercial shipment could be a real disaster for us all.  
Please email the cc: list with any concerns you may have and we will do our 
best to help.

Michael Craig
SOLVE Project Manager