It's official - THREE launches in months of May, June and July... read on for details

[Rodney Radford]

To start, everyone knows about the June 15th Maker Faire launch and
the goal to test the hardware for that launch on a May May 27th
(Memorial Day) launch.

I have also hinted at another launch where I was asking for input on
doing something different. The client wanted a live video launch,
which is why I bought and added that hardware to the May 27th and June
15th launches.

Now I can explain who, and why....

We will be working with the Durham Library to do a nearspace launch
from center field of a Durham Bulls game on Wednesday night, July
10th. This will be a very high profile launch, so I wanted to test as
much as possible prior to getting to that point. I had to wait to
announce it until the library had it's funds and the launch was
cleared with the Durham Bulls.

So the plan is to fly the same hardware I am flying for the Memorial
Day (gnome) launch and the Maker Faire 2013 launch, with the exception
I will probably pull the WiFi from that launch and i will add a
flasher to it to make it easier for retrieval. The launch will start
about 6:30pm in the early evening, before the 7pm game, so retrieval
will probably be at night.

So, who is interested in assisting with this launch?

The library has been granted enough money to buy their own hardware,
including both launch hardware, ground support hardware, and all
expendables, plus some extra for advertising budget. They had already
looked at buying a prebuilt kit for a balloon flight online, but I am
working with them in hopes that we can build one for them at a
significant savings, including loaning ground equipment, to keep their
costs down. The exact details of who provides what is not yet set,
and I don't want to post the full details on this public forum, but
there is more going on behind the scenes.

Btw, if you have seen any posts from Casey Nees on the list the last
few weeks/months, say hello to him as he is the person at the Durham
library who thought of the idea and is my contact at the library.

More details available later, and even more available in more private
meetings/discussions.

So now I need a show of hands of who is interested in participating in
the THREE launches coming up in the near future:

May 27th, Horseshoe park, Raleigh - gnome flight, WiFi, ATV, helium
June 15th, NC State Fair grounds - Maker Faire 2013, helium, similar
hardware to May 27th
July 10th, Durham Bulls game - flight before game, helium, similar to
Maker Faire

I also have heard we may have enough hydrogen left over from the
memorial day launch for yet another launch. Chris, please confirm if
this is true, and if so, perhaps we can put together another test
launch, possibly before July 10th, using hydrogen from Horseshoe park
again.

[Bill Farrow]

On Thu, May 16, 2013 at 1:56 PM, Rodney Radford <ncgad...@gmail.com> wrote:
> May 27th, Horseshoe park, Raleigh - gnome flight, WiFi, ATV, helium

> July 10th, Durham Bulls game - flight before game, helium, similar to

Rodney,
I was planning to help with the May 27th launch, and I can probably do
the July 10th as well.

Bill

[Christopher Gorski]

NSL-12, July 12, Bulls Park, 6:30 PM.  Check!   It's now on my calendar.  I intend to be there.

 

SCORE.

 

Is that, "release at 6:30", then?  I.e., start prep at 6:00 or something? 

 

 

 

As for H2:  We're buying about 200 ft3 for NSL-10, which is more than necessary for 1 launch, but less than necessary for 2...  (if we split that in half, we would have a VERY slow ascent...)  I could look into bigger tanks in the future--if we could get a 300 ft3, that'd give us enough to fly two normal-to-large launches w/o having to get another tank, if we were intending to do them chronologically near to each other... (I'm not sure I know the tank rental cost per day--I think my buddy at the shop is just eating the few cents for us this time, but there'd possibly be extra cost in keeping a tank for two that were, say, several months apart.)

 

Half a tank is nothing to sneeze at, though:  we could do three launches out of two bottles, if we wanted to try that...  Again, certainly not carrying H2 into Maker Faire or a baseball game, but if we wanted to fly again for fun or for test, we're certainly cutting down on our cost that way... a little over $200 buys us three launches worth of gas...

 

or if we wanted to do one just on a lark, we could look at what the remaining 50+ ft3 could do for us with a very small balloon... I don't know how light your tracking gear is right now, Rodney, but I bet we could do a super-light one on remaining gas if we wanted to try (:

 

But if you're hoping to test-fly the full complement of hardware for nominal NSL-12, which I assume is probably in the 3+ lb. range, we'd want to purchase more gas.  (Is that part of their budget, or ours...?)

 

 

Cheers,

 

--me

 

 

On Thu, May 16, 2013 at 1:56 PM, Rodney Radford <ncgad...@gmail.com> wrote:

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[Rodney Radford]

Actually, I could put together a very light payload - probablyunder a pound, that includes tracking and a small camera - would be fun to see how high that goes.  I wouldn't mind if we lost the hardware as the cost would be much less.

 

So do we have a balloon we could use?

[Rodney Radford]

Actual details of release time are unknown now, but since the game is scheduled to begin at 7pm, I suspect that a release time of 6:30 would be about right.

 

We could be there an hour before, get locks on all the GPS's and about 15 mins before flight, start with balloon fillup near the edge of the field, and then walk it out to release... that sounds less stressfull than dragging everything out onto the field and filling it there. It also removes the need to take the helium cylinder out onto the field - we definitely would NOT want to do anything that could affect the playing surface.

 

So I think we could be safely off the edge of the field, get a lock (early), then fill the balloon and walk it for release... and then head out for chase.  Since recovery will possibly be after sunset, I was planning on putting a strobe on the balloon to make recovery easier.

[Christopher Gorski]

No, probably not on hand, but we could by then.

 

Let me do the arithmetic and see what balloons we have available for purchase...  (I think the biggest spare I have in my set of goodies is a 3 ft pibal cell, which would only lift about half a pound and burst before it got nearly high enough...)   Can I get back to you maybe over the weekend wrt. how much payload we could lift w/ our leftover gas?

 

--me

[Christopher Gorski]

sounds great.

 

--me

[Tanner Lovelace]

On Thu, May 16, 2013 at 2:53 PM, Christopher Gorski <cpgo...@gmail.com> wrote:

NSL-12, July 12, Bulls Park, 6:30 PM.  Check!   It's now on my calendar.  I intend to be there.

 

SCORE.

 

Is that, "release at 6:30", then?  I.e., start prep at 6:00 or something? 

Chris,

Wasn't that July 10?

In any case, I can do both Memorial Day and the July 10 launch.  I may be able to help with the MakerFaire launch, but I will not be able to chase as I have a wedding to go to that afternoon.

Tanner

--
Tanner Lovelace
http://wtl.wayfarer.org/
(fieldless) In fess two roundels in pale, a billet fesswise and an increscent, all sable.

[Christopher Gorski]

Yes--I realized this when I was copying to calendar.  10th not 12th!  I think I was duplicating the "NSL-12" part.

 

That is WEDNESDAY, July 12!

 

--me

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