| FLIGHT RECAP
|
MISSION # CNS-003A
Altitude: 95,082 ft
| Launch Date: |
07/02/2005 |
| Launch Time: |
08:10 CDT |
| Launch site: |
Traynor High School. Traynor, IA
Lat/Lon: 41° 13.90' N / 095° 36.47'W |
Burst Altitude :
Time: |
95,082 ft
09:15 CDT |
LOS Altitude
time: |
2,700 ft
10:05 CDT |
| Cloud Cover: |
Mostly Clear |
Ground Wind Speed
at launch: |
6 mph |
| Temperature at Launch: |
72f |
| Free Lift |
3.4lb |
| Ascent Rate |
1110 fpm average |
| Descent Rate |
1150 fpm (terminal) |
| Ground track |
30 miles downrange bearing 99 degrees |
| Launch Conditions |
Clear, Temp: 72f, Ground Wind: 6mph |
posted 07-11-2005 | 05:08:18 | article number: 11
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| OBJECTIVES
| Flight objectives:
- Certify ground tracking software, equipment and procedures
- Flight Certify a 2m simplex repeater
- Provide training for Mission Control, Launch, Tracking and Recovery Crews
- Participate in the 2005 Great Plains Super Launch (GPSL)
|
posted 07-07-2005 | 09:24:30 | article number: 10
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| FLIGHT SYSTEMS
|
Flight Systems:
| Balloon Manufacturer |
Kaysam |
| Balloon Type |
latex |
| Balloon Size |
1500 gram |
| Payload |
CAPSTAR-1A
2m simplex repeater for Near Spaces Ventures, Inc. |
| Free Lift |
3.4 lb |
| Parachute |
9ft RocketMan (Dayglo) |
posted 07-07-2005 | 09:44:21 | article number: 9
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| PAYLOAD
|
spacecraft bus: CAPSTAR-1A
| • |
APRS
VHF radio - 144.39 mhz
KPC3+ TNC
Garmin GPS35PC |
• |
Concord 1.3mp Digitial Camera
with 128mb memory card |
| • |
Canon ELPH film camera
FujiFilm 25ex 200ASA |
• |
Practice ELT
121.775 mhz |
| • |
CAPCON Flight Control Computer
Basic Stamp 2
2 serial channels
1 Latching relay
6 spst reed relays |
• |
VHF Voice Beacon
146.565mhz @ 50mw |
| • |
Palm IIIxe based datalogger |
• |
Power Module
6V = 4 Energizer L91 batteries
12v = 8 Energizer L91 batteries
9v = Radio Shack Lithium battery |
| • |
2 meter simplex repeater
|
posted 07-07-2005 | 09:49:44 | article number: 8
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| OUTCOME
| Vs Objectives...
posted 04-09-2005 | 09:19:59 | article number: 7
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| FREQUENCIES
|
| Ground Simplex |
147.555 |
| Preflight net: |
145.115 ( - ) |
| RPTR 1: |
145.115 ( - ) |
| Spacecraft Simplex Rtpr: |
146.460 |
| APRS: |
144.36 |
| Practice ELT |
121.775 |
posted 07-07-2005 | 10:14:08 | article number: 6
|
| OPERATIONS
| Working..
posted 04-09-2005 | 09:17:02 | article number: 5
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| FLIGHT TRACK
|
Flight Profile
(TigerLine view) |
Landing area
(TerraServer view) |
posted 07-07-2005 | 11:16:27 | article number: 4
|
| PERSONNEL
|
| Personnel |
| Mission Manager |
Major Troy Campbell, KC0MIC |
| Principal Investigator |
Near Space Ventures, Inc. |
| Launch Director |
Major Mike Hackley, KC0SGD |
| Flight Director |
Keith Kaiser, WA0TJT |
| Recovery Director |
Major Troy Campbell, KC0MIC |
| Air Crew |
_ |
| Payload Management |
Major Troy Campbell, KC0MIC
Captain Cindy Campbell, KC0RRW
Deb Kaiser |
| Launch Team |
Major Mike Hackley, KC0SGD
Keith Kaiser, WA0TJT
Captain Cindy Campbell, KC0RRW |
| Recovery Team 1 |
Major Troy Cambpell, KC0MIC
Captain Cindy Campbell, KC0RRW |
| Recovery Team 2 |
Keith Kaiser, WA0TJT
Deb Kaiser |
| Recovery Team 3 |
Major Mike Hackley, KC0SGD |
posted 07-10-2005 | 14:29:56 | article number: 3
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| IMAGES / DATA / VIDEO
| |
posted 07-07-2005 | 10:48:34 | article number: 2
|
| NARRATIVES
| CAPNSPACE (Civil Air Patrol Near Space program)
We had 3 'firsts' this year.
1) This flight marked the first flight made at a GPSL. Last year we were observing at GPSL-2004 in hopes of starting a program.
2) This flight marked the first flight CAPNSPACE made as a member of the Near Spaces Ventures, group. In conjunction with that, we worked with a BSA venture group.
3) This flight marked the first flight that we recovered without any 'outside assistance' (ie the farmer didn't find it before we did and call us.)
LAUNCH:
At 7:00 we arrived at Traynor high school and began setting up.
The winds were still light and it was about 70F.
After another group had began to fill their launcher (balloon), we noticed that the wind was just starting to pick up and decided that we'd fill our balloon and be ready for launch should the wind start to pick up any more.
It was decided that we'd put in more lift the we normally would to get the package out of the ground winds and past 40,000ft quicker than normal.
We launched at 8:10am CDT about 5 minutes after the first launch. The climb rate was about 1,100 fpm. (That is an estimate until the data from the flight recorder can be analyzed ).
We packed and split into three teams and left the launch area right after 5 more teams launched.
TRACKING:
The APRS telemetry showed that the flight path was following the flight projection fairly closely.
Almost immediately after takeoff, the tracking system froze up for chase team 1. Team 3's tracking equipment never did work. Team 1 rebooted and got some limited functionality for maps and vehicle location but the KPC 3+ TNC stopped working altogether. Chase Team 2's equipment was working perfectly.
At this point, Team 1 and 2 departed east on highway 92 to highway 71 to stay ahead of the balloon. Team 3 remained to try to get the tracking system working. The 2m simplex repeater on-board the spacecraft worked great so all the teams stayed in contact .... up to a point....
The spacecraft is equipped with an ELT on a practice frequency of 121.775mhz. Every 5 minutes the flight control computer would turn the ELT on for 1 minute. When the spacecraft neared apogee, the flight controller latched the ELT on so that it could be tracked on the way down.
The problem was that the ELT would modulate the 2m simplex repeater. We still don't know if the issue was the proximity of the antennas or if the ELT or 2m transmitter need to be shielded or both or all three. In any case, when the ELT latched 'on' the simplex repeater became pretty much useless. It would still key-up but whatever voice traffic was on it was drown out by the ELT. Because of that Teams 1 and 2 lost contact with Team 3 about an hour into the flight.
Team 2's (Keith Kaiser, WA0TJT and Deb Kaiser) tracking equipment was still working fine so Team 1 (Troy Campbell, KC0MIC and Cindy Campbell, KC0RRW) stayed within simplex range and both teams stopped just outside Grant . The balloon had pretty much stopped forward motion over Elliot and climbed to 95,082 feet and burst just a little west of Elliot. What was interesting was that if you keep the meter on the ELPER 'centered' you could get a fair sense of the elevation as well as the direction. The DFing fixes agreed with the APRS data, which was gratifying. I was worried that we wouldn't be able to track it with only one set of APRS equipment. The ground teams departed for a position between Elliot and Grant.
RECOVERY:
Keith on team 2 had binoculars and spotted it at about 3,000 ft after it had passed over us but lost it over a hill. The last APRS posit was from 2,400ft at a little past 10:00am CDT. We made for that spot. Team 2 was already there and searching a corn field (Iowa = Corn, probably should have guessed the landing obstacles). Joe Lynch, N6CL, editor of CQ-VHF was on the scene also to help search.
After a bit of that, I broke out the 'ELPER' and took a couple of fixes on the ELT. It was still strong showing the signal coming from further north but basically straight up the road. If you look at the track from the APRS data you'll see that the package flew up the road and landed within 20 feet of it. Unfortunately, the corn was taller than I was and the fence propagated the signal in many wonderful ways.
Even though the ELPER was pointing to the package correctly the terrain was very hilly with intermittently space tree lines, creeks and terrace ridges. The owner of the farm arrived about midway through the search and attempted to help from the top of his almost 2-story harvester but it was on the ground in the Tall Corn and just couldn't be seen.
After about 2.5 hours, we'd isolated it to a 50ft patch of corn using an aircraft radio and 'body nulling'. When I couldn't get a null any longer, I took the antenna off the radio, held it away from me and parallel to the ground and started walking the rows till the signal indicated I was within a few feet of it. I literally tripped over the package.
It was 12:30 CDT now and everyone was hot, tired and hungry. Team 3 ( Mike Hackley, KC0SGD ) arrived while I was searching around the corn field. After we'd recovered the near-spacecraft, Mike and I shut everything down, retrieved the flight recorder, the RAM card from the digital camera and the film from the film camera.
The digital camera looked like it impacted something pointy and we had to pry the RAM card out of it. The camera will have to be replaced.
We drove back toward Omaha stopping at 'The Rose' family restaurant in Traynor.
Things we learned and that need improvement:
RECOVER OPERATIONS:
The ground tracking equipment in the chase vehicles needs to be 'hardened' and tested.
We need to practice as a team more. When the teams become separated, common frequencies and contact procedures need to be used.
Standard DFing procedures need to be documented and practiced.
Several other 'standards' need to be discussed. Simple things like "What notation should everyone use for Latitude/Longitude?"
FLIGHT OPERATIONS:
An additional crew is needed for coordination of the flight phase, from launch to just after burst.
When we launch a package for a group or specific science or instrument package (ala the 2 meter simplex repeater) a person dedicated to controlling the package needs to be on the team. For example, the 2m simplex repeater was enabling contacts in Champaign Illinois and Independence Missouri but there was nobody to log the traffic.
LAUNCH OPERATIONS:
This went pretty smoothly except that while we had decided to use more lift that we normally would, we used too much. We'd wanted 2.5 lbs and ended up with 3.8 lbs. We need to add a check list for the launch vehicle (balloon) similar to the payload power-up and attachment checklist.
While we want to encourage visitors and participants, there is a time when it would be real useful to have a "sterile" launch area. (This is also a safety issue.) Stanchions and tape or orange rope might work.
ENGINEERING:
The CAPSTAR-1A near-space frame is nearing it's end-of-life. Its getting pretty beat up. Another 1 or 2 frames need to be built and readied to fly.
The RF crosstalk between the ELT and the 2meter FM rf sections needs to be addressed.
A commanded cut-down device needs to be installed so that we can fly larger payloads.
GPSL suggestion.
GPSL-2005 was Great! Mark Conner, N9XTN, did a super job pulling it all together. The conference topics and speakers were VERY interesting and informative. There were ten balloons launched and over 65 people attending. It was great to work with everyone I'd met last year and meet new groups.
I did hear a good suggestion that at the next GPSL there be a "net control station and operator". The controller's job wouldn't necessarily be to coordinate a net. (There was very little congestion on the local repeater). But the controller _could_ facilitate communication between different groups when, for example, a group needed help with recovery operations or they wanted to cross check their own tracking with another group.
73 de Troy KC0MIC
posted 07-10-2005 | 19:08:26 | article number: 1
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