Launch Site: Open field in San Juan Bautista (N 36°51.083', W 121°35.150') (N 36.85139, W 121.56917)

Touch Down: Field on S Clovis Road close to Laton, CA (between Lemoore and Fresno) (N 36°27.950', W 119°42.500') (N 36.46583, W 119.70833)

Summary

Balloon launched and payload recovered, close to 90K feet, bad news is the SPOT side stuff didnt function at all, we are going to post mortem later today, but the last data we got is during the prelaunch tests.

• Construct and test payload disconnect mecanism (DONE)
• Determine optimal duty cycle of sensors (DONE)
• Assemble PCBs for SPOT (DONE)
• Adapt camera for automatic operation from Spot (DONE HARDWARE, Software: DONE)
• Reserve bottle of Helium (DONE and picked up )
• Test electronics container (payload) insulation internal cooldown rate in a deepfreezer (Georges, ask Roger for external analog temp sensorn DONE)
• Code the software (DONE)
• Chase Plane (Charlie SCHEDULED)

• Telescope ( Roger DONE)

• mirror bubble for camera (DONE but were not gonna use it )

• GPS interface (DONE)
• Conversion of WGS84 (Latitude/Longitude from GPS) to a "flat" datum so that the software can easily figure "how far from the launch site we are" (polar coordinates). This will be used to force a cut-off of the balloon if it strays too far. ( Lachlan DONE )
• GSM module interface to send SMS messages of GPS position. ( Lachlan, Arshan PUNTED )
• Code to serialize the data acquired to an AT26DB081^? Flash chip (same chip as on the eDAQ board). REALLY IMPORTANT. This is similar to the SD card flash chips, but not quite the same commands and SPI-only. ( DONE )
• Camera interface module ( DONE )
• Data acquisition code ( DONE )
• System integration ( DONE )

• Sample recovery task - Someone hides the payload and the recovery team tries to recover it. (PUNTED)

• Chase Plane (Charlie)

• Create blog (David, Tennessee DONE)

• Find name for mission (DONE EDucational Gas-filled Aerial Rotunda (EDGAR-1))
• Test APRS setup (PART DONE MicroTrak^? 8000FA works, Kenwood Radio w/APRS works, Need to test XASTIR Software and GPS to Microtrak stuff)
• Test Voice on 2m band with radios (DONE All good)

• Construct payload bay (Lachlan STARTED)
• Find Antenna for chase car radio (DONE, Bought one from HRO)
• Determine launch site (DONE Watsonville, CA)

• Adapt camera for automatic operation from Spot (DONE HARDWARE, Software: ?)

• PowerPole^? connector and car lighter plug for Chase car radio (DONE Tennessee)

• 2x Optocoupler for shutter (DONE Tennessee)
• Inline fuse holder (DONE Tennessee)
• PCB parts for SPOT boards (DONE Tennessee)

1. Go to a launch site (Watsonville, CA)

• Order parachute (Arshan DONE )

• mirror bubble for camera

• Find name for mission (99SPOTLuftBallon,EDucational Gas-filled Aerial Rotunda )

• Inverter for chase car laptop ( DONE Arshan )
• Telescope ( Roger has a lead on this )

• Conversion of WGS84 (Latitude/Longitude from GPS) to a "flat" datum so that the software can easily figure "how far from the launch site we are" (polar coordinates). This will be used to force a cut-off of the balloon if it strays too far. ( Lachlan )
• GSM module interface to send SMS messages of GPS position. ( Lachlan, Arshan )
• Code to serialize the data acquired to an AT26DB081^? Flash chip (same chip as on the eDAQ board). REALLY IMPORTANT. This is similar to the SD card flash chips, but not quite the same commands and SPI-only. ( Arshan )
• Camera interface module ( Georges )
• Data acquisition code ( Arshan, Georges )
• System integration ( Arshan )

• Test electronics container (payload) insulation internal cooldown rate in a deepfreezer (Georges, ask Roger for external analog temp sensor)

• Create blog (David, DONE)
• Advertise this project far and wide (David, INPROCESS) posted: http://blogs.sun.com/davidgs/entry/how_high_can_a_spot
• Find name for mission (99SPOTLuftBallon,EDucational Gas Aerial Rotunda )

• Advertise this project far and wide (Roger ? Arshan ?) posted: http://blogs.sun.com/davidgs/entry/how_high_can_a_spot

Action Items (Write DONE at the end of each item that is done)

• Create blog (Arshan ?)
• Advertise this project far and wide (Roger ? Arshan ?)
• Find name for mission
• Test APRS setup (MicroTrak^? 8000FA, Kenwood Radio w/APRS, XASTIR Software)
• Test Voice on 2m band with radios (Roger ? Glenn ? Tennessee ?)
• Find Radio for chase car (DONE, Thanks Glenn !)
• Find Voice radio for chase car (DONE, Thanks Roger !)
• Find Voice radio for base team (Glenn ?)
• Order parachute (Arshan ?)
• Construct payload bay (Tennessee ?, Lachlan ?, Anyone ?)
• Find Antenna for chase car radio
• Determine launch site
• Construct and test payload disconnect mecanism (Tennessee ?, Lachlan ?)
• Determine optimal duty cycle of sensors
• Assemble PCBs for SPOT (Tennessee)
• Adapt camera for automatic operation from Spot (Hardware: Tennessee, Software: ?)
• Reserve bottle of Helium
• Code the software (see software section below !)

Stuff to get

• PowerPole^? connector and car lighter plug for Chase car radio
• Inverter for chase car laptop
• Telescope
• Video camera (DONE Tennessee)

Digikey stuff

• 2x Optocoupler for shutter
• Inline fuse holder
• PCB parts for SPOT boards

1. Record pressure, temperature, accelerometer (?), position in flash

1. Monitor cel coverage and dial in with gps info as soon as possible
2. Transmit GPS data MORE OFTEN

1. Diagnostic tests ? Only run what is necessary to save battery ?

1. Run Forrest, Run !

Software Tasks

Miscelanny

alternate inspiration

• Parachute
• HELIUM
• PCBs and parts for PCBs
• Payload bay and misc hardware
• Nylon cord (at least 50lbs break strength, but not much more)
• TNC (packet modem) for chase team reception of APRS signal
• Mobile 2m radio (x2: base team and chase team)
• Automobiles
• Telescope (With azimuth and elevation readouts)
• AC Inverters to power a laptop in a car

VII. Recovery

VIII. Fame and Fortune

1. Recover the balloon & hardware.

• Sample recovery task - Someone hides the payload and the recovery team tries to recover it.

Its a bird ... its a plane ... its ... its ... its a SpotBalloon^?

inspirational video , to be watched once every day from now til launch

alternate inspiration

Kickoff email

StillDeconstructing

I've put Tennessee's kickoff email onto another page since its got so much data, pulling bits of it that we need to work on incrementally out here.

Mission Plan

0. All Stages

1. APRS radio broadcast of gps

I. Prelaunch

1. testing routine ( test all systems and comms paths )

II. Rising

1. take pictures at appropriate intervals
2. aim camera?

III. Apex

1. Picture!!!

IV. Falling

1. Switch to video and record some?
2. monitor cel coverage and dial in with gps info as soon as possible

V. Landing

VI. Postlanding

Mission Objectives

On the Launch Date, we will be doing the following:

1. Go to a launch site (TBD)
2. Launch the balloon with its payload
3. Track the balloon visually using a telescope ("Base team")
4. Track the balloon using the internet ("Base team" and everyone) via APRS (APRS = GPS over radio modem, basically) packets transmitted on the 2m amateur band and received by stations around the region.
5. Track the balloon by car, using a radio and laptop listening to the Balloon's signal and the base team's visual tracking cues. This will be the "Chase team".
6. Recover the balloon.

After recovery, data from the payload will be analyzed and some more fun will ensue

Todo

What is still unknown (please help !):

• Design of the payload bay and final weight of the assembly
• Final size of the balloon (dependant on previous point). I might purchase a larger balloon than the one I currently have, just to make sure.
• Parachute size, also dependant on payload size. Parachutes from Public Missiles Limited (https://blastzone.com/pml/components.asp?groupid=13), most likely 24" or 36".
• NAME for the mission.
• Exact Launch Site. Different scenarios can be tried with the following Online Balloon Path Calculator, which uses NOAA wind data and Google Maps (http://nearspaceventures.com/w3Baltrak/readyget.pl). Other software is at: http://www.eoss.org/balsoft.htm
• Duty cycle of sensor acquisition and radio downlink

Software tasks that need to be done AND tested on the ground:

• GPS interface (Lachlan is working on it)
• Conversion of WGS84 (Latitude/Longitude from GPS) to a "flat" datum so that the software can easily figure "how far from the launch site we are" (polar coordinates). This will be used to force a cut-off of the balloon if it strays too far.
• GSM module interface to send SMS messages of GPS position.
• Code to serialize the data acquired to an AT26DB081^? Flash chip (same chip as on the eDAQ board). REALLY IMPORTANT. This is similar to the SD card flash chips, but not quite the same commands and SPI-only.
• Camera interface module
• Data acquisition code
• System integration