Season Finale - MISSION # CNS-007

SEASON FINALE, MISSION # CNS-007 Sat, November 19 CNS-007 Fountain Park BSA/student payloads (VENTURE-STAR1) Our last launch of 2005 will take place on Nov 19 at the Fountain Park near 210 & 291 highways. Lat: 39.204582 Lon: -094.38772 Current projections are for about 53 miles 113 degrees southeast of the launch site, just south of Sweet Springs. Long range weather is favorable. We will start publishing weather and track plots on the website this evening. This is a 'make up flight' for the BSA. The initial flight suffered a broken flight line at launch and the balloon left on it's mission without the payload. Mission # CNS-007 APRS callsign: K2BSA-11 APRS freq: 144.360 (4w) 2 meter Voice Beacon: 146.565 (50mw) CAP ELT freq: 121.775 Ops frequencies Primary Repeater: 145.430 Primary Simplex: 147.555 Setup time is 7:45 Launch window is 8:30 to 9:15 This payload will have 20 minutes of video pointing down and 2.5 hours of video pointing up. We're using a CVS 'disposable video camera' for the downward looking video and the Aiptek DVR for the upward looking camera. If you would like for you or your organization to build your own satellite or payload experiments please contact the Mission Director We will be glad to come to your school or organization and show you how to build and fly YOUR OWN experiments into Near Space. posted 11-16-2005 | 07:01:06 | article number: 11

Mission #CNS-004 COMPLETE - 97,083 ft

A mission narrative, data analysis and photos will be posted to the web site on Saturday, July 30. Launch was at 8:40 cdt at Edgerton, KS Burst occurred at 11:15 cdt at 97,083 ft Touch down was at 11:50 cdt in Carbondale KS, 14mi south of Topeka and 36 miles downrange of launch site. Ascent rate was 600fpm Descent at landing was 1200fpm The NearSpacecraft was found by Anita and Vincent Jones in a field near their house in Carbondale, KS. posted 07-26-2005 | 06:34:13 | article number: 10

CAPNSPACE / NEAR SPACE VENTURES FLIGHT ANNOUNCEMENT

CAP Near Space Mission # CNS-004 Launch Site: Edgerton City Park, Edgerton Ks Lat/Lon: 38 45.674N x 095 00.098W One mile north of I-35 on Sunflower Rd Date: Sep 17, 2005 (Saturday) Time: Setup at Edgerton Park will start at 07:30 Launch Time: 08:30 - 09:30 posted 08-15-2005 | 06:41:20 | article number: 9

CAPNSPACE LAUNCHS 3rd MISSION AT THE GREAT PLAINS SUPER LAUNCH

July 2, 2005 CAP NearSpace Mission # CNS-003a is a Success! Altitude: 95,082 ft Launch Site: Traynor High School, Traynor, IA Date: Jul 2, 2005 (Saturday) Lift-off: 08:00 CDT Touch down: 10:02 CDT Highest Altitude: 95,082 ft Distance Traveled: 30.0 miles Flight objectives: Certify ground tracking software and equipment Certify a 2m simplex repeater for flight Provide training for Mission Control, Launch, Tracking and Recovery Crews Participate in the 2005 Great Plains Super Launch (GPSL) The recovery crew located the near spacecraft in a corn field near Elliot Iowa. The digital camera was damaged but the capsule was intact with no damage at all. A recap of the mission is available at Mission Report Major Campbell reports, "This mission was probably our most successful yet. Launching with ten other groups at the 2005 - GPSL gave us a lot of knowledge and experience from other programs as well." posted 07-07-2005 | 06:17:56 | article number: 8

CAP Near Space Program 2nd Mission a SUCCESS !

April 2, 2005 CAP NearSpace Mission # CNS-002 is a Success! Altitude: 98,340 ft Launch Site: Edgerton City Park, Edgerton Ks Date: April 2, 2005 (Saturday) Lift-off: 09:42 CST Touch down: 12:20 CST Highest Altitude: 98,340 ft Distance Traveled: 101.7 miles Flight objectives: Certify the upgrades to CAPSTAR-1A Launch a science package provided by Tom Zimmerman Provide training for Mission Control, Launch, Tracking and Recovery Crews Integrate Air Search capability into launch and recovery procedures (Aircraft provided and piloted by Eric Danner) The recovery crew located the near spacecraft in Weaubleau, Missouri. The capsule was intact with no damage at all. More information is available from the Mission Report Major Campbell reports, "The mission was a hugh success! All objectives were met, very good training was accomplished and we got back a lot of data and great pictures." posted 04-09-2005 | 14:26:27 | article number: 7

CAPSTAR-1 Upgraded - Redesignated "CAPSTAR-1A"

CAPSTAR-1 has received many important upgrades since it's first flight and has been redesignated "CAPSTAR-1A". The changes have shaved a lot of weight from the spacecraft, added a lot capability and left room for additional experiments or packages in two of the equipment bays. The addition of the flight control computer will allow mission profiles to be added by changing the programming. The extra room can be used by schools, amateur radio groups or other groups interested in exploring Near Space. The major upgrades to CAPSTAR include: Replace Rockwell GPS with Garmin 35pc Modify TNC programming and GPS wiring to provide much more capability Add Film Camera to standard payload (Canon Elph) Replace all wiring and connectors to use Anderson PowerPole connectors Added a Basic Stamp2 based flight controller Changed Battery system from hand made CR123A packs to Energizer L91 "AA" lithium cells in standard battery holders Removed SSTV module from standard configuration (In the future, this type of equipment will be provided by Amateur Radio groups) Replaced digital camera with smaller, lighter one with a 256m memory card Added an 8meg Palm-Pilot based data recorder connected to the flight computer and TNC Troy M. Campbell posted 03-24-2005 | 07:07:34 | article number: 6

CAPNSPACE FIRST FLIGHT A SUCCESS!

Wow! It's really going to go into space! (Near Space) That as the reaction as CAPSTAR-1 lifted off for its first flight into near-space. The estimated altitude reached was 107,000 ft! The High Altitude Balloon was launched at 9:51am CDT from the city park in Edgerton, Kansas and touched down about 4 miles NorthEast of Harrisonville at 12:30 CDT. The touchdown was witnessed by Tim Soulis who recovered the payload and took it to his place of business, Golden Classics Jewelry in Harrisonville. Charles R. Long Squadron personnel took possession of it at 3:00 pm CDT. The payload received very little damage and will fly again after some upgrades. Click here for complete information, including maps, photos and a mission summary. Click here for a video clip. (Large file - 36mb. Video by C/1Lt Nathaniel Beeman) posted 09-01-2004 | 08:39:40 | article number: 5

VIEW FROM THE EDGE OF SPACE !

This is one of 7 shots recovered from the SSTV system. Unfortunately, the transceiver for the SSTV package was set to the ground test frequency and wasn't checked before liftoff. Fortunately, other Amateur Radio operators heard the transmissions on the ground test frequency and captured some of the pictures. Many thanks go to KC0FUE for capturing the pictures gating them to the internet. Click here for to see the SSTV flight pictures. posted 08-31-2004 | 20:26:40 | article number: 4

CAPSTAR-1 CONFIGURATION

CAPSTAR-1 after final configuration one week before launch. The photo shows the riser assemble, package harness, shroud ring and all the major systems and antennas. posted 08-30-2004 | 10:50:05 | article number: 3

MISSION STATEMENT

Members of the Charles R. Long Composite Squadron, Civil Air Patrol, have embarked on a project to launch Simulated Satellite payloads (SimSats) into Near Space, at or above 100,000 feet using High Altitude Balloons as the launch vehicle. This is an Aerospace Education program that will allow enable participants to gain knowledge in a wide variety of fields, such Amateur Radio, weather, space science, engineering, program management, telemetry systems, experiment design, cosmic ray studies, atmospheric studys and more. Our goal is provide education opportunities and monthly launch, tracking and recovery services for Amateur Radio Groups, High Schools, Community colleges, Technical Schools, CAP Squadrons and other interested groups. posted 08-30-2004 | 10:39:42 | article number: 2

Near-Space Satellite Configuration

This is a diagram (not to scale) of a near-spacecraft configuration being considered. This configuration has two packages each weighing 6 pounds or less. One package (the command module) will contain standard telemetry, vehicle control, communications and recovery systems. The second package will contain experiments and data recording systems built by various groups. posted 02-24-2004 | 13:15:46 | article number: 1