NSL-87 later this week maybe

Paul Lowell

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Sep 30, 2020, 11:46:32 AM9/30/20

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A week back it appeared that Sept 29 would have two night-time rocket launches (Florida and Virginia) and some really strong supercell storms all within a short window. All cool things to try to video from a weather balloon. Sadly, those storms ended up shifting the rocket launches around.

At this point it looks like the Virginia rocket launch will be Thursday night and the Florida launch (with booster landing off the NC coast) will be Friday night. The sky should be clear both nights.

I'm considering a night balloon flight to try to video one of these launches from 30km. As you can tell by the cool weather, the jet stream is down here. Launches from my home would land near Norfolk! I will probably have to launch from Southern Pines to land in a good spot by Rocky Mount.

SpaceX GPS III-4 launch path

Jason Unwin

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Sep 30, 2020, 6:08:20 PM9/30/20

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That is SWEET! Do you have to file a special waiver for a night flight? Attach flashing light beacon, etc.?

Paul Lowell

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Oct 1, 2020, 10:24:27 AM10/1/20

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I've got a friend at Pope AAF that has been helping me. It really helps that the payload is under 1lb.

I've used an old zenon strobe in the past, but this one will have a bright LED version that Tim gave me. I have the T-Beam set to turn it off above 60kft, but I don't think that I'll need to do that if it is away from the low-light cameras.

The rocket flights have been getting scrubbed all week, so who knows when this will fly.

Steve Williams

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Oct 1, 2020, 10:35:03 PM10/1/20

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The wallops launch Tonight was scrubbed. Next window is 9:00pm Friday so possibly two launches on Friday! The don’t have a lot of luck with the Cygnus rockets from wallops from what I’ve seen!

Sent from my iPhone

On Sep 30, 2020, at 11:46 AM, Paul Lowell <pa...@lowell.to> wrote:

A week back it appeared that Sept 29 would have two night-time rocket launches (Florida and Virginia) and some really strong supercell storms all within a short window. All cool things to try to video from a weather balloon. Sadly, those storms ended up shifting the rocket launches around.

At this point it looks like the Virginia rocket launch will be Thursday night and the Florida launch (with booster landing off the NC coast) will be Friday night. The sky should be clear both nights.

I'm considering a night balloon flight to try to video one of these launches from 30km. As you can tell by the cool weather, the jet stream is down here. Launches from my home would land near Norfolk! I will probably have to launch from Southern Pines to land in a good spot by Rocky Mount.

SpaceX GPS III-4 launch path

<nsl-87.jpg>

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<nsl-87.jpg>

Tim Wiwel

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Oct 2, 2020, 7:29:07 AM10/2/20

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I’m game to help

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On Oct 1, 2020, at 10:24 AM, Paul Lowell <pa...@lowell.to> wrote:

I've got a friend at Pope AAF that has been helping me. It really helps that the payload is under 1lb.

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Paul Lowell

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Oct 2, 2020, 12:58:06 PM10/2/20

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That would be cool if both flights go tonight. But it has been a bad week for scrubs.

I'm planning to launch down past Southern Pines at 8pm tonight. Tracking via APRS and LoRa (KD4BFP on tracker.habhub.org). Landing should be around Rocky Mount, prior to 11pm. Unless it lands on the road, I'll just get coordinates and do recovery once it's daylight.

Christopher Gorski

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Oct 2, 2020, 1:52:52 PM10/2/20

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A bad week for scrubs, indeed.

Thanks for the updates and keep us (/me) posted!

73 de kj4cqq k

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Jason Unwin

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Oct 2, 2020, 3:29:40 PM10/2/20

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What equipment are you using for APRS and LoRa?

pa...@lowell.to

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Oct 2, 2020, 5:06:34 PM10/2/20

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Nothing new on this flight. Just an AP510 and a 915MHz Tbeam. See

http://www.ncnearspace.org/missions/nsl-86

Previous flights have details on these 2 trackers, including source code links.

I'm going to try to fly something very similar to flight number 86. Only no fancy carbon fiber.

I am going to try to add a lightweight styrofoam wing to see if that slows down rotation. Hopefully it will change angular momentum and provide some drag against spinning.

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Subject: Re: [NCNS] Re: NSL-87 later this week maybe

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Paul Lowell

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Oct 3, 2020, 9:16:06 AM10/3/20

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Beautiful flight!

Clear night, full moon, nice drives through the countryside.

The balloon needed about 8 more cubic feet of gas, so the flight went long and some batteries ran out. But that's why we have redundant trackers and cameras. Only one of the rockets launched -- the one I was shooting for was scrubbed.

I have the landing location and will now be getting in touch with the landowner for the walk in to get it. According to aerial images, it appears to be in a tree farm that was planted around 2015. The payload also has PVA (melts in water) string holding the box to the chute, so that may help with recovery.

Paul Lowell

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Oct 8, 2020, 9:52:41 PM10/8/20

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Initial write-up at

http://www.ncnearspace.org/missions/nsl-87

Including animated GIF of rocket launch

Paul Lowell

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Oct 10, 2020, 10:36:28 AM10/10/20

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I've added a link to download a raw video clips showing the Antares launch. This can be viewed in VLC. This video also shows how adding the foam wing affects the payload stability.

Jason Unwin

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Oct 10, 2020, 4:01:07 PM10/10/20

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May I share this on a HAB Facebook page?

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Paul Lowell

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Oct 10, 2020, 4:03:58 PM10/10/20

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Sure

Jason Unwin

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Oct 10, 2020, 4:08:25 PM10/10/20

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Thank you.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ncnearspace/f4dc1630-14d2-417b-9b9e-9acf7f8a4029n%40googlegroups.com.

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