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

Summary

Balloon launched and payload recovered, around 96K feet max altitude, bad news is the SPOT side stuff didnt function at all, most likely because of a mechanical reason during payload assembly (after the initial power-on tests that were successfull).

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)

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

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

Stuff to get

• PowerPole^? connector and car lighter plug for Chase car radio (DONE Tennessee)
• Inverter for chase car laptop ( DONE Arshan )
• Telescope ( Roger DONE)
• Video camera (DONE Tennessee)
• mirror bubble for camera (DONE but were not gonna use it )

Digikey stuff

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

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. [Arshan]

Mailing List

Mission Plan

PreLaunchChecklist

0. All Stages

1. APRS radio broadcast of gps
2. Record pressure, temperature, accelerometer (?), position in flash

I. Prelaunch

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

II. Rising

1. take pictures at appropriate intervals

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
3. Transmit GPS data MORE OFTEN

V. Landing

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

VI. Beaconing

VII. Recovery

1. Run Forrest, Run !

VIII. Fame and Fortune

Mission Objectives

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

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

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

BillOfMaterials

Software Tasks

These tasks NEED to be done AND tested on the ground:

• 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 )

Pre-launch tasks:

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

Miscelanny

US Government pitches in towards EDGAR

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

alternate inspiration