Quick mission recap

[Eric]

We just rolled into Reno. I posted two photos on our way in as we
regained cell phone coverage. As you can see "almost" all the payloads
made it back just fine. We did manage to loose the LEGO Mindstorms
Team's payload somehow (photos to come).

It was a VERY long day for us - up at 5:00AM and back to Reno at
6:30PM. Here's a quick recap:

Balloon #2 (which was actually the first to be launched so that we had
more time to pick-up little Joe):
The recovery was a hard-long hike up a some pretty bad terrain.
Luckily the cloud cover kept the temperature in the low 90's for us
(it actually started to rain while we were launching balloon #1).

SLR payload: worked fine, although my NXT batteries died (serves me
right for trying to use them for 3 missions). It looks as though it
lasted the entire mission and died while on the ground because we have
over 1800 photos (300 of them of the landing site). I'll know more
when I download the datalogged data tomorrow.

FLL Team 90: seems to have worked like a charm. Upon start up, the
pinwheel spun around as expected. The NXT was still running when we
recovered the payload. Like most of the payloads, it was covered with
shards of the balloon (David was wondering what that was in the
photo). If you want us to download the data and email it, let me know
and we'll take care of it tomorrow.

Gypsy: started up fine and seems to have worked. The NXT was locked up
when we recovered it, but the onscreen message indicates that it was
in a part of the program that is active during descent (according to
Brian - who gets a big THANKS from our entire team for serving as the
go-to contact during the mission). I have not extracted the camera
from the payload but it did turn on at launch.

NXT communications: worked fine, but we couldn't hear it for too long
as we weren't chasing it directly because we were busy getting the
next balloon ready and launched. It suffered a bent radio antenna
(bottommost payload always hits the hardest) but otherwise was still
functioning when we recovered it (still sending GPS locations).

Little Joe: We released little Joe around 82000 feet. The SPOT worked
and led us directly to it (first hike of the day). The parachute
deployed but got entangled by the tail-fin string. The parachute must
have worked somewhat because both the SPOT and NXT were still
functioning after falling around 78000 feet. We tried to download the
GPS data but had problems connecting to the computer we brought along.
Jeff will try to download the data tonight or tomorrow. Irregardless,
Brian now holds the world record for longest NXT freefall (80 seconds
- at least).

Balloon #1 (second balloon launched):
Compared to the other launch, this was easy to recover - a 1/2 mile
hike across fairly even terrain. It was HOT though as the sun decided
to come out and we were hiking near noon.

LUXPAK: booted up and the LED's showed everything normal. Recovered it
with absolutely no damage. We have not attempted to extract the data
as that seemed pretty complicated. We may attempt it tomorrow, but
we're a bit to tired now and are afraid of making a mistake and
loosing the data.

Brix Catcher: We are not sure if it worked as it does not give any
visual or audible confirmation when started up. The flaps were all
closed at recovery and the payload did not suffer any damage. We have
not opened the payload to inspect the NXT. If you would like us to do
something with the NXT or video camera, let us know.

Peeps-in-Space: Seemed to work fine. It made it's noise when we
started it up. The peep inside doesn't appear to have suffered any
damage (we were expecting the inside of the payload to be all covered
with yellow bits of marshmallow). The NXT was still running when we
opened the payload (we turned it off). Again, if you want the data
emailed, just let me know).

UNR student payload: not related to HALE, but her payload worked fine.
Took pictures using a point-and-shoot digital camera and logged
temperature (internal and external) and pressure. We'll get the data
posted later this week.

NI video camera payload: in our rush to launch, we must have mis-
aligned the camera and we ended up getting and hour of video of open
sky. Not bad, but we wanted to film the balloon not sky. A video of a
bursting balloon eluded us once again...

REEL-E: the payload seemed to work fine. We were a little perplexed by
some initial motion when we started it up. The instructions weren't
clear about what was supposed to happen so we are not sure if it
functioned as planned. It did survive the flight intact but we have
not opened it up yet.

Overall a great mission. Both balloons reached nearly 100,000 feet and
the payloads performed wonderfully. All the teams should be VERY proud
of their work. Your hard work and creativity has paid off. You are all
part of a very elite group now!


Got to get home to the family now. I'll try to post some photos after
dinner.
Eric

[David Levy]

Thanks for the news Eric. Were are all very pleased here in Virginia.

Yes. Please download the data ( there should be 3 files: one for time, one
for the uv filters, and one for the thermostat)

NOTE: please DON'T run the program again as that will PRE-DELETE the files.

Eric - Thank you again for this great opportunity. Please also thank those
individuals responsible for testing and carrying out our payload mission.

David Levy
FLL 90 Payload Coach
Education and Outreach Director
Virgina - DC FIRST LEGO League

On Tue, 29 Jul 2008 19:07:32 -0700 (PDT), Eric wrote

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[Eric]

David,
Feel much better now, after a hot shower.

We are aware of not running the program again. I will download the
data tomorrow. Can you please remind me what program you used (NXT-G
or Robolab)?

I'll post some photos in a little while.

Your team did great!
Eric


On Jul 29, 8:02 pm, "David Levy" <david.l...@restonrobotics.org>
wrote:

[David Levy]

The team used NXT-G. The files should be in the console's memory tab in the
"Other" section. You probably know that. This is the first time the team
has done datalogging ( and we are a third year team )! Heck. I'm embarrassed
to say that I've never got around to it until now. ( cost of staying pace
with 3rd - 5th graders I guess)

Cheers
David

On Tue, 29 Jul 2008 20:12:33 -0700 (PDT), Eric wrote

[Brian Davis]

On Jul 29, 10:07 pm, Eric <lego.profes...@gmail.com> wrote:

> I posted two photos on our way in as we regained cell phone
> coverage.

I missed where these were posted I guess - anybody have a link?

> It was a VERY long day for us - up at 5:00AM and back to
> Reno at 6:30PM.

And THANK YOU - I saw some of the terrain you guys were hiking in, and
it looked... interesting. On top of all the drives. Thanks for putting
in such long day for the benefit of the rest of us.

> Balloon #2... The recovery was a hard-long hike up a some
> pretty bad terrain.

Heck, now I'm hoping for some pictures of the hike :).

> Gypsy: started up fine and seems to have worked. The

> NXT was locked up when we recovered it...

I'll be curious to see where it got to - it may have been locked up
due to completely exhausting the memory, but I'm not sure. To echo
David's comments below, if you want to put the batteries back in, turn
it on, and download all the log files off it to email to me I'd love
it - but there will be several, sequentially numbered. As he mentions
on his, it's very important that you don't run the program again, as
that will start deleting the log files, but pulling them off is easy
enough - just transfer every ".txt" file over to the computer, zip 'em
up and email me. The same also goes for Lil' Joe - don't run the
program a second time, and transfer all the ".txt" files to the
computer if you have the time before shipping them back.

> I have not extracted the camera from the payload but it did
> turn on at launch.

If you wish, feel free to transfer those pictures off the memory card
before shipping it back as well (that way (a) the data is backed up
and (b) you have the pictures/videos). The front "face" of the cage
containing the camera pulls forward, off the payload, and then the
camera (bolted to a "tray" of LEGO) can be removed from the front as
well. I think at that point you can open the card slot and download
the card.

> Brian - who gets a big THANKS from our entire team for serving
> as the go-to contact during the mission

Trust me, it was a *fantastic* experience on my end as well. My kids
came running into the room when I screamed upon getting a "grounded"
SPOT transmission from Lil' Joe :) I'm just very glad I could help
during the mission... and if you want a dry version of my view of the
events, look at theNXTstep blog.

> Little Joe: We released little Joe around 82000 feet. The SPOT
> worked and led us directly to it (first hike of the day). The
> parachute deployed but got entangled by the tail-fin string. The
> parachute must have worked somewhat because both the SPOT
> and NXT were still functioning after falling around 78000 feet.

Actually, looking at the picture on the blog that damage is slightly
less than I thought. Based on a timeline approach, I'm guessing Lil'
Joe impacted the ground between 30 and 50 mph... slower than I'd
originally feared. I'm rather surprised the bottom is broken as well -
I'd expect that layer of styrofoam to be compressed between the NXT/
SPOT inside and the ground outside, transmitting the shock directly to
the electronics. A "punch out" seems to imply to me perhaps a glancing
hit on a bottom corner of the shell, with some energy being dissipated
by the foam breaking. any way you cut it, I'm glad it seems to have
survived.

> We tried to download the GPS data but had problems connecting
> to the computer we brought along. Jeff will try to download the
> data tonight or tomorrow.

I look forward to that data, as well as anything you can retrieve off
of Lil' Joe in the datalogs. That was a fast descent - somewhere
between 13 and 23 minutes for the whole 78,000'.

> Irregardless, Brian now holds the world record for longest
> NXT freefall (80 seconds - at least).

<Big Grin>...

> Peeps-in-Space: Seemed to work fine... we were expecting the

> inside of the payload to be all covered with yellow bits of

> marshmallow.

Nope, they swell but don't explode. I'm not sure what would happen if
you froze it first however.

> UNR student payload: not related to HALE, but her payload
> worked fine.

If she is Ok with it, please ask her if she would share any of her
data, and she is welcome to any of mine (although I guess my payloads
were on the other balloon, I'd love as many pressure/temperature
curves as possible).

> Overall a great mission. Both balloons reached nearly 100,000
> feet and the payloads performed wonderfully. All the teams
> should be VERY proud of their work. Your hard work and
> creativity has paid off. You are all part of a very elite group now!

Thank you - this has been (& will continue to be, actually) a
fantastic experience!!

Let us know where the photos are, as I lost the link :(

--
Brian Davis

[David Levy]

Half way done the home page with a link name of mobileme
http://www.unr.edu/nevadasat/HALE/

On Tue, 29 Jul 2008 20:24:36 -0700 (PDT), Brian Davis wrote

[Eric]

Direct link to photos is

http://gallery.me.com/lego.professor#100014&bgcolor=black&view=grid

[Claude]

1. As a ham LX1BW, I must say that the radio tracking was amazingly
filled with suspens.
2. Brian, you did a good job as an intermediate to the event
3. The photos and the quick report are most promising that the
payloads survived and worked well.
4. Just to remind concerning LUXPAK that you will only loose the data,
if you execute the rather complicated reset procedure, that you
obviously shouldn't do. Also note that you should place the "REMOVE
BEFORE FLIGHT" panel over the LEGO touch sensor. This prevents LUXPAK
from restarting the datalogger - although old data isn't overwritten
-. Just consult the user guide and run the LabVIEW program
S_L_Viewer.vi that you find on the CD or on our web-journal (date
08/06/16). Please email me the raw data file.
5. Eric and your whole team, many thanks for this extraordinary
event !!! This will remain a mile-stone in the memory of educational
robotics.
6. Good luck for all other's data recovery now.

Claude

[David Leal]

Hello Teams!

as for the data files for Reel-E, its impossible to overwrite them as every time the program runs, it creates a new file with a different name, eg HALE, HALE1, HALE2.................

so for us to have the data all you need to send us is the HALE.dat (it should be only one but in case you find many please send them all)

Thanks for this wonderful mission, its been a very interesting project full of surprises, and we want to to Specially thank Eric and the staff for pulling this out, and making sure everything was in place at the right time, our sponsors, Lego Mindstorms, NI, Energizer, University of Nevada and the Nevada space grant, ASAP and Specially Steven Canvin, for inviting us to be part of this, to all of you a big Round of Applause!!!

don't forget to share pictures and experiences, as for us we will build a web page soon, we'll send you the link when its done

Good luck to everyone and hope to see you sometime in future projects, or if you are somewhere near Helsinki, Finland from sept 2008 to Aug 2009 don't forget to send us an email or something

Best Regards

David & Juxi
Space Master Robotics Team

[Brian Davis]

Eric wrote:

> http://gallery.me.com/lego.professor#100014&bgcolor=black&view=grid

And David wrote:

> Half way done the home page with a link name of mobileme
> http://www.unr.edu/nevadasat/HALE/

Thanks guys. Although I feel rather silly for missing/forgetting
that...

WOW! Thanks for the early pictures Eric! Not only is it great to be
included like this, but it’s fantastic to finally see the team we owe
so much to. So of course, I’m spending my morning pouring over them
for clues… :).

===== WARNING: Long post follows =====

“A few moments after release of the first balloon” & “Launch of the
first balloon!”: Wow – high resolution images are great! From top to
bottom the payloads are (I think) the UofN-Reno SLR payload, Unknown
(by process of elimination, this should be the LEGO Mindstorms team
payload I think), the FLL 90’s UV monitoring payload, Gypsy (hanging
below the rectangular pipe frame), the NXT-shelled communications
payload, and finally Lil’ Joe hanging at the bottom. I was initially
worried about the small black linear object just visible below and
“extending from” the bottom of Gypsy’s payload shell. I think this is
the long studless beam that the safety tether anchors to on the bottom
of the payload. It should have been held flush against the bottom by
the string tension, with a LEGO “cord-lock” securing the string just
above the payload – this may have failed upon launch for some reason,
or not been snugged down, but it worked fine (and the weight of that
studless beam may have kept the safety tether out of the pictures,
we’ll see).

“Launch of the second balloon!”: The wind had picked up a bit. From
top to bottom, I think the payloads are LUXPAK (you can even see the
“up” arrow… good direction :) ), Brix-Catcher, Peeps-in-space (I love
that name), the “ride-along” student payload, and then… is that the
National Instruments video payload being held off from the Energizer
communications payload *by an arrow*?!? When I first saw the “payloads
after” picture I thought somebody had been using the mission for
archery practice, but I guess if you are looking for light, stiff, and
strong (with a ready-made notch for a payload string) it’s hard to do
better. A very neat idea! And then finally at the bottom, the REEL-E
payload.

“How did it survive?” & “Recovery site 1_ tangled ‘chute”: Actually, I
think I know what happened now. Looking closely at these pictures I
can see two clues. First, there is a faint circle eroded into the
inner side of the tailfin assembly by the “LEGO cord-lock” holding
tension on the yellow tether. I suspect that the aerodynamics were
spinning the tailfin assembly (also indicated by the dramatic twisting
of the yellow cord) – not to surprising. The other clue is that the
tailfin tether is hooked to the middle-top of the parachute (the
webbing loop for a drogue ‘chute). Originally I thought I had tethered
the tailfin assembly to the *bottom* of the parachute – that required
a longer tether system, but made sure the heavier tailfin would dangle
below the parachute without fouling. Tethered to the top of the
parachute, the tailfin would have hung below the parachute once the
payload had reached terminal velocity. The dangling tailfin would have
collapsed the canopy on one side, then any spinning motion would have
wrapped the parachute tightly into the tailfin tether over time,
progressively collapsing the parachute further. I suspect that would
have stopped when the whirligiging parachute-tailfin would have been
spinning fast enough to separate them (aided by the twist in the
tether line). *If* that’s the case, the payload (with the datalogging
accelerometer) would have been spinning as a “counterbalance” to the
system, probably resulting in a higher-than-1-G environment… in other
words, I might be able to see this situation develop and stabilize in
the data, if it comes through. By the way, I love the slightly
disbelieving looks on the teams face in this picture… I’d have given
anything to hear the conversations that were happening on-site that
day. In hindsight, I’m not positive it would have been any better
tethered below the parachute (there’s still the question if the
initial deployment), but it might have prevented the wind-up from
consuming the parachute (due to the nice swivel-link at the bottom of
the parachute). I’d also love to know how fully the parachute deployed
during the terminal portion of the fall… hopefully you guys will be
able to pull off the GPS data to determine the descent speed. Have you
started a list of guesses as to what the maximum speed was? I suggest
Price Is Right rules – closest without going over.

“Lil’ Joe as found (chute didn’t open properly)-1”: Summary – I have
*no idea* what happened here (which you probably realize won’t stop me
from speculating). For those who haven’t seen the payload, from left
to right the parts are the rectangular “anchor pad” (with the yellow
tether still originating from its center; underneath the yellow cord
goes around a LEGO axle (if memory serves)), a taped cover (to keep it
in place on the anchor pad), and a black piece of foam that served to
cushion the internals on the bottom. Next is the tailfin assembly
resting on top of the parachute, with the tightly twisted yellow
tailfin tether visible between the parachute drogue loop and the
tailfin. A long red tether that Eric was very kind to retrofit in
before flight runs from the parachute swivel-link (hidden under the
‘chute) to the LEGO internals (still hidden inside the damaged payload
shell). The payload shell itself lays in a small bush, with the bottom
punched out from inside, but nothing protruding from the hole (indeed,
nothing visible in the hole). The lowest layer of Styrofoam is broken,
not torn off the payload shell at the glued seam, and the fracture
tore through the bottom and the tape right through the point that the
payload tether originally went through. The problem is at impact I’d
have expected the bottom of the payload shell to be crushed between
the hard ground and the still downward-moving internals (the NXT &
SPOT). So I’d expect dramatic crushing damage to the base, with a
ground imprint on the bottom… but I don’t see that. Somehow, it seems
the payload was moving up relative to the internals. Perhaps the
payload shell actually bounced, hitting the ground and bouncing up,
while the internals slide downward and slammed into the ground a
fraction of a second later, punching out the bottom and ejecting the
“anchor pad” and black foam. Then the NXT & SPOT bounced off the black
foam, now moving upwards back into the still-rising payload shell. The
internals + payload shell, now moving upwards again, come to rest in a
small bush just “downrange” of the impact point, with the internals
shifted up (not towards the previously flat bottom but shifted towards
the tailfin opening by their bounce up through the payload shell)
within the payload shell. As this final bounce is happening, the
parachute/tailfin tangle, still falling along the original high-speed
line of descent, strikes the ground at the same impact point, not
bouncing itself due to the parachute. This would lead to the “anchor
pad” and black foam marking the point of impact with the parachute/
tailfin nearly overlying it, with the payload shell and internals
displaced further by their bounce. It would also somewhat explain the
ovious “punched out” appearance of the bottom of the shell, yet with
nothing protruding at all from it. My original thought was actually we
got extremely lucky and the payload hit in the bush, with stopped the
payload shell and allowed the still downward-moving internals to
“punch through”… but if that was the case, the internals should be
protruding through the breach (they aren’t), and anything ejected
(like the “anchor pad”) should be in the bush (it’s not). Furthermore
the only tiny pieces of separated Styrofoam visible are between the
payload shell and the location of the “anchor pad”, as I might expect
if the impact had occurred near the pad’s location but the debris
traveled towards the payload shell’s resting place. But I’m really
open to other theories. Also, the next time we try something like
this, I think it might be a good idea to paste a number of those shock-
sensitive “stickers” that I’ve seen used on programs like Mythbusters
to the payload. Clearly, the electronics can take a bad shock… but we
still have no idea, really, how bad.

“Inside of NXT communication payload”: Eric, I’d love to know what you
use to carve out the foam like that. My own method used a hotwire
cutter, but it was a straight wire held on two ends, so impossible to
use to cut such intricate patterns.

“Payload prep for 2nd balloon-4”: Spacemasters, I’d really love to see
detailed pictures of the internals of your payload – it reminds me of
Gypsy, in that the internals look to be most or all LEGO, and I’d love
to see how you put it together. It also looks like your payload was
only held by the lid, with the lid secured to the rest of the payload
with Velcro – innovative! I’m starting to realize Velcro is more and
more useful for payloads like these, and hadn’t thought of that,
although you can bet I would have checked the Velcro a lot! My biggest
worry was a payload simply breaking free, never to be seen again (as
evidently happened to the Mindstorms team’s payload… sorry, guys)

“Preparing Peeps in space!”: I was happy to finally see some of this
payload… althought the Peep does look slightly uncomfortable with the
LEGO axles going through him! My daughter brought up an important
question I couldn’t answer: who on the team got to “eat the Peep” that
went up? Certainly one of the most unusual ways to prepare a sugary
treat for consumption. And did it taste different from any that had
remained on the ground? Inquiring minds want to know.

“Recovery site 2”: looking at this I had two thoughts – that doesn’t
look like too much fun to get to, and I wish I could have been there
to feel 7 see the shredded balloon. It just looks neat!

“The HALE mission team after a fun day”: I can’t thank you guys (and
lady!) enough, and it’s nice to finally see faces for all the folks
who put in the hard work. Thanks again!

“Ballon burst at 99_712” (& other balloon images): Wonderful! I hope
Gypsy comes through with at least some photos. It’s amazing to see
photos from that high… but much more amazing to know that your payload
was actually up there at the moment that photo was being taken.
Fantastic! The balloon shadow on the launch site is very cool as well…
and it will be interesting to see if at any time we can find one
balloon in the other balloon’s pictures (the clouds may make it
tough).

“Landing site as seen from balloon”: Very cool! I can actually find
the road, the dry washes, the “rock bands” (OK, “dirt hills”), etc.,
all that were visible on Google maps as I was pinpointing landing
sites. Amazing.

--
Brian "did you get all the way down here?" Davis

[Brian Davis]

On Jul 30, 3:21 am, Claude <claude.baum...@education.lu> wrote:

> 1. As a ham LX1BW, I must say that the radio tracking was

> amazingly filled with suspense...

I agree - my kids kept asking me why I was reloading the same page
again & again.

> 2. Brian, you did a good job as an intermediate to the event

Thank you - I wish the main public SPOT tracking page would have
worked, but it was a lot of fun putting together "mission control
briefings" (even if I actually had control over nothing :) ).

--
Brian Davis

[David Levy]

I'm smack in the middle of a NXT summer camp with 19 students in a small classroom. We had the
website up on the screen. Very exciting!

On Wed, 30 Jul 2008 09:31:31 -0700 (PDT), Brian Davis wrote

[Eugene]

Thank you, Eric!
Thanks the HALE Team!
Thank you, Brian!

Though not being able to be on site, I was excited to read Brian's
report and see the first run of Eric's photos.

Please do open Brix-Catcher to disconnect the battery pack of camera,
turn off the NXt and remove the batteries. After remove all of the
batteries, please follow the procedure to close the payload for
shipping.

>
> Brix Catcher: We are not sure if it worked as it does not give any
> visual or audible confirmation when started up. The flaps were all
> closed at recovery and the payload did not suffer any damage. We have
> not opened the payload to inspect the NXT. If you would like us to do
> something with the NXT or video camera, let us know.
>

I'll use special software to read the camera memory card when it
returns to Taiwan. PLEASE DO NOT try to read the memory card with PC,
since it will format the memory card and destroy all the data.

Thanks again! It's a great pleasure to participate this event.

Best Regards,
Eugene

[Brian Davis]

On Jul 31, 2:30 am, Eugene <g...@brixplay.com> wrote:

> Though not being able to be on site, I was excited to read Brian's
> report and see the first run of Eric's photos.

I'm glad you enjoyed the live report. It was a lot of fun posting it
as well.

> I'll use special software to read the camera memory card when it
> returns to Taiwan. PLEASE DO NOT try to read the memory card with PC,
> since it will format the memory card and destroy all the data.

If possible, I think the rest of us would love to get a copy of that
video - it seems Gypsy's camera faulted out somehow, and I fear I have
no pictures or video of the mission at all (very disappointing, but I
will have to try again sometime perhaps). You may have the best on-
balloon video record available, and I would love to see the entire
thing at hi-resolution. If we mailed you a USB memory stick, could you
put the raw video on it and mail it back to us?

--
Brian Davis

[Eric]

Eugene,
Note: we will not remove the SD card.
We will simply remove all the batteries and then ship it back to you.

Eric