BallastHalo 5 Launch - Friday 09/07/10 18:00UTC
James Coxon
Lots of groups on this email so replying might not go to everyone!
Finally have got round to the 5th launch in the BallastHalo series,
which have been testing latex pinhole floaters and also ballast tanks
in anticipation of a future trans-atlantic launch. BH5 consists of a
main flight computer downlinking RTTY, a peristaltic pump, ballast
tank and a backup beacon.
The plan is to launch BH5 from Churchill College, Cambridge at
18:00UTC (19:00BST) aiming for an ascent rate of between 2 and 3m/s.
Sunset on the ground is at 20:16(UTC) which means that at altitude
sunset will be at ~21:00. Hopefully at sunset the balloons ascent rate
will drop and begin to float. When this float is detected the flight
computer will drop some ballast which should break the float - whether
it re-establishes float slightly higher is something we'll find out!
With the current flight predictions it'll stay with in the UK, if we
manage to float for a small period of time the payload 'should' land
on solid ground (as it'll float inland), if it doesn't float then
there is a high chance of a sea landing. The key however is that the
ballast tanks get tested at altitude, even a small drop will be
counted as a success. This payload has survived 2 Channel crossings
visiting France and the Netherlands so it might well be a fitting end.
Lots more information can be found on my webpage:
http://www.pegasushabproject.org.uk/wiki/doku.php/missions:ballasthalo:ballasthalo5
Tracking is very welcome especially in the East of England,
potentially if we can establish float then it could float all night
however the ballast drops could disturb this. There is no onboard
storage so the more data we can gather over the radio the better. As
usual the best way to track is using dl-fldigi both old and new
versions - more info can be found on the UKHAS wiki
(http://ukhas.org.uk/guides:tracking_guide). In dl-fldigi select
'atlas' as the payload to track.
Main Downlink:
* 434.075Mhz RTTY 50 baud, ASCII-8, 350 shift, no parity, 1.5 stop bits
* Sample String:
$$ATLAS,0,12:44:33,51.4982,-0.0529,20064,3,0.0;10;1;31;27;79;500;0*6E
* $$Callsign,Cycle_Count,HH:MM:SS,Latitude, Longitude, Altitude,
Number of Sats, Ascent Rate, At Float, Float Time, Internal Temp,
External Temp, Light, Ballast, Ballast Mode*Checksum (XOR)
Backup Beacon
* 434.070Mhz
* CW 14WPM
* Hellschreiber (Feld-Hell)
* 3 strings looped every 10 minutes
Follow the flight @ http://spacenear.us/tracker/
Follow progress on twitter: http://twitter.com/jamescoxon
Chat on #highaltitude on irc.freenode.net
Thanks
James Coxon
M6JCX
http://www.pegasushabproject.org.uk
Mark Caviezel
James:
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: BallastHalo 5 Launch - Friday 09/07/10 18:00UTC
From: James Coxon <jac...@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, July 06, 2010 2:40 am
To: uk...@googlegroups.com, ukhas-...@googlegroups.com,
atlant...@googlegroups.com, Elmar - PD3EM <in...@pd3em.com>,
pa...@fairdene.demon.co.uk, m5...@yahoo.co.uk, Sylvie
<f1...@wanadoo.fr>, "jean-pierre.taconne" <f1...@orange.fr>, verbrugge
<f6...@free.fr>, Noel Matthews <no...@noelandsally.net>,
Iain.J...@diamond.ac.uk, Graham Shirville
<Graham.S...@allgood.co.uk>, g4bao <jo...@g4bao.com>, "L.Aubarbier"
<barb...@free.fr>, jacquesmotte <jacque...@wanadoo.fr>, David
PRIJAC <prijac...@orange.fr>, Robert Chipperfield
<rob...@syxis.co.uk>, F8...@aol.com, Claude RIVAS <f4...@yahoo.fr>
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Atlantic_Halo" group.
To post to this group, send email to atlant...@googlegroups.com.
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to atlantic_hal...@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/atlantic_halo?hl=en.
James Coxon
Apologies but I've had to postpone the launch of BallastHalo 5 24
hours so it will now be launched at 18:00UTC on 10/07/10 from
Churchill College, Cambridge. The flight path is similar however the
balloon will head a little further North before it turns West. The
good news is that everything is currently working, have spent the day
running lots of tests which the payload has completed succesfully!
James
M6JCX
http://www.pegasushabproject.org.uk