Last minute balloon launch on Thursday morning
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Eric
Jul 10, 2008, 1:32:12 AM7/10/08
to HALE TEAMS
Sorry for the late notice, but we just decided to do a "quick" balloon
launch tomorrow (Thursday) morning to test the SPOT GPS tracker one
more time. The objective is to make sure we can find and recover a
very small payload (consists of just the SPOT and small point & shoot
camera). A secondary objective is to test a Beta web service from SPOT
which allows others to view the GPS track online. We've set up a
temporary page at:
http://share.findmespot.com/shared/gogl.jsp?glId=0q6eqzVqLafnsHiZr9eUWXLodoHjhShcM
On this page, you should be able to track the entire mission from
start to finish. We'll turn on the SPOT when we are packing the cars
in Reno and will leave it on until we return.
We will be loading the cars with helium and other equipment at 8AM
(PST) and should reach the launch site around 9AM. Launch will be
around 10AM. The mission is short (70,000 feet estimated) with the
ascent and descent rates high (1500 feet/min) to minimize mission
time. If all goes well, we should be all done by lunch. This should
give everyone an idea of how close to real-time you will be able to
track your payload during HALE.
If it goes well, we will create another page that will give access to
all 3 of the SPOT devices that we will be using on HALE so that you
can track the mission in near real-time.
All feedback is appreciated!
Eric
launch tomorrow (Thursday) morning to test the SPOT GPS tracker one
more time. The objective is to make sure we can find and recover a
very small payload (consists of just the SPOT and small point & shoot
camera). A secondary objective is to test a Beta web service from SPOT
which allows others to view the GPS track online. We've set up a
temporary page at:
http://share.findmespot.com/shared/gogl.jsp?glId=0q6eqzVqLafnsHiZr9eUWXLodoHjhShcM
On this page, you should be able to track the entire mission from
start to finish. We'll turn on the SPOT when we are packing the cars
in Reno and will leave it on until we return.
We will be loading the cars with helium and other equipment at 8AM
(PST) and should reach the launch site around 9AM. Launch will be
around 10AM. The mission is short (70,000 feet estimated) with the
ascent and descent rates high (1500 feet/min) to minimize mission
time. If all goes well, we should be all done by lunch. This should
give everyone an idea of how close to real-time you will be able to
track your payload during HALE.
If it goes well, we will create another page that will give access to
all 3 of the SPOT devices that we will be using on HALE so that you
can track the mission in near real-time.
All feedback is appreciated!
Eric
Brian Davis
Jul 10, 2008, 12:57:21 PM7/10/08
to HALE TEAMS
> http://share.findmespot.com/shared/gogl.jsp?glId=0q6eqzVqLafnsHiZr9eU...
>
> All feedback is appreciated!
Looking good so far - I just got home from some shopping, to find
there are 6 reports (at 12:55 PM EST), and it looks like you are
approaching Pyramid lake! Very nice. Looks like it's updating every
ten minutes (but if so, there should be a 7th report, not yet).
--
Brian Davis
>
> All feedback is appreciated!
Looking good so far - I just got home from some shopping, to find
there are 6 reports (at 12:55 PM EST), and it looks like you are
approaching Pyramid lake! Very nice. Looks like it's updating every
ten minutes (but if so, there should be a 7th report, not yet).
--
Brian Davis
David Levy
Jul 10, 2008, 4:13:12 PM7/10/08
to hale-...@googlegroups.com
Still moving then? Any information on altitude available?
On Wed, 9 Jul 2008 22:32:12 -0700 (PDT), Eric wrote
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David Levy
Jul 10, 2008, 5:15:23 PM7/10/08
to hale-...@googlegroups.com
I looks like it is heading home now.
On Wed, 9 Jul 2008 22:32:12 -0700 (PDT), Eric wrote
Brian Davis
Jul 10, 2008, 6:43:54 PM7/10/08
to HALE TEAMS
On Jul 10, 4:13 pm, "David Levy" <david.l...@restonrobotics.org>
wrote:
> Any information on altitude available?
The SPOT unit doesn't transmit altitude IMS - just X-Y (or Lat-Long)
position. However, the important thing is as you note, it seems it's
moving along a road... so it worked well enough to find it. now, if I
can just build a payload to take advantage of that... "Little Joe" is
rather unbuilt at the moment (well, partially).
Gypsy, on the other hand, is looking like it may work. Right now it
will log engineering data (sound levels, encoder positions, two
internal temperatures, heater status, and NXT battery voltage),
ambient data (pressure, temperature of the sensor, and light levels),
put all logs in a compressed format, can change the logging interval
under SW control, control the heaters, and take pictures from a
scripted list of commands, and I should be able to get it to switch to
a different scripted list upon cut-down. Still need to develop a
second sequence (so far, all the above is a single sequence in NXT-G)
to handle cut-down controls and acceleration/sound levels (averaged).
But it's looking good...
--
Brian Davis
wrote:
> Any information on altitude available?
position. However, the important thing is as you note, it seems it's
moving along a road... so it worked well enough to find it. now, if I
can just build a payload to take advantage of that... "Little Joe" is
rather unbuilt at the moment (well, partially).
Gypsy, on the other hand, is looking like it may work. Right now it
will log engineering data (sound levels, encoder positions, two
internal temperatures, heater status, and NXT battery voltage),
ambient data (pressure, temperature of the sensor, and light levels),
put all logs in a compressed format, can change the logging interval
under SW control, control the heaters, and take pictures from a
scripted list of commands, and I should be able to get it to switch to
a different scripted list upon cut-down. Still need to develop a
second sequence (so far, all the above is a single sequence in NXT-G)
to handle cut-down controls and acceleration/sound levels (averaged).
But it's looking good...
--
Brian Davis
Brian Davis
Jul 11, 2008, 1:56:41 PM7/11/08
to HALE TEAMS
> The SPOT unit doesn't transmit altitude IMS - just X-Y (or Lat-Long)
> position. However, the important thing is as you note, it seems it's
> moving along a road... so it worked well enough to find it.
Eric, I'm trying to put together "Lil' Joe", and have two concerns.
> position. However, the important thing is as you note, it seems it's
> moving along a road... so it worked well enough to find it.
First, the SPOT transmitter will be inside a relatively thick (1-2")
blue insulation foam payload container. Will it transmit through that
well enough? How hard was the SPOT package to find (i.e., should I
invest in really bright paint, if I get the time)?
Secondly, it does NOT look like "Lil' Joe" will have payload heaters,
due to room and/or mass constraints. The payload will be fairly well
sealed, right up to the point where the fins are reeled out to deploy
the parachute, which removes the rear of the payload compartment. I'm
interested in opinions on this. The NXT & SPOT are at the bottom,
batteries in the geometric center... but i'd still like opinions.
--
Brian Davis
Eric
Jul 11, 2008, 6:55:27 PM7/11/08
to HALE TEAMS
As most know, the mission went well yesterday. We reached 53,000 feet
- high enough for the SPOT to stop transmitting for a while. The
reported landing position was within 10 feet of the actual location
(less than the accuracy of the GPS) so we were pretty happy. What this
means is that we can essentially find any size payload.
The driving part of the mission took longer than anticipated because
we elected to explore some roads that we have never used before. The
landing location was right in the middle of the granite springs valley
- one of our favorite launch/recovery zones. We hope to use this
location in a few weeks (weather dependent). The actual mission
(flight) time was just under 1 hour total.
There was a ton of smoke from the fires in California. Visibility was
less than 1 mile at times. It was also very hot (exceeding 100 most of
the day).
The payload we flew was a tad over 1 pound total (enclosure,
parachute, SPOT, camera, GPS logger, and hand warmer).
To answer your questions:
1) the SPOT can transmit through insulation just fine. It transmits
from inside a car okay too (as you can tell).
2) I think we can find a small payload. The parachute is pretty easy
to locate. That was the main question to answer with this last
mission.
3) I think the SPOT can handle it unheated as well as it's well
sealed. We did a test last winter and left it out in the cold at well
below freezing all night and it functioned fine. I think a hand warmer
for the SPOT and one for the NXT would be sufficient.
- high enough for the SPOT to stop transmitting for a while. The
reported landing position was within 10 feet of the actual location
(less than the accuracy of the GPS) so we were pretty happy. What this
means is that we can essentially find any size payload.
The driving part of the mission took longer than anticipated because
we elected to explore some roads that we have never used before. The
landing location was right in the middle of the granite springs valley
- one of our favorite launch/recovery zones. We hope to use this
location in a few weeks (weather dependent). The actual mission
(flight) time was just under 1 hour total.
There was a ton of smoke from the fires in California. Visibility was
less than 1 mile at times. It was also very hot (exceeding 100 most of
the day).
The payload we flew was a tad over 1 pound total (enclosure,
parachute, SPOT, camera, GPS logger, and hand warmer).
To answer your questions:
1) the SPOT can transmit through insulation just fine. It transmits
from inside a car okay too (as you can tell).
2) I think we can find a small payload. The parachute is pretty easy
to locate. That was the main question to answer with this last
mission.
3) I think the SPOT can handle it unheated as well as it's well
sealed. We did a test last winter and left it out in the cold at well
below freezing all night and it functioned fine. I think a hand warmer
for the SPOT and one for the NXT would be sufficient.
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