Around the World attempt #1

[Paul Lowell]

CGHS ATW-1 balloon up around 1542EST from Cardinal Gibbons High School. 

Balloon is using solar powered transmitter with APRS as KM4EFW-12 and 20m WSPR as KM4EFW.

Moments after launch, its signal was already received as far away as Colorado!

 

From Tim Wiwel:

Here are the specs:

·  Payload: APRSLight-W transmitter, 100mA solar cell, 1.5F 6v S-cap, 2m antenna, 20m dipole antenna 

·  weight 22 grams

·  balloon: SBS-13

·  target free lift 8 grams / 1m/s ascent

·  target flight alt, 42k ft / 12.5km

·  Lifting gas ~2cu ft H2

Track balloon on aprs.fi with call sign  KM4EFW-12, or https://tracker.habhub.org/

 

WSPR can be tracked at  http://wsprnet.org/drupal/wsprnet/spotquery with call sign KM4EFW,  Search the database on the 20m band. 

 

APRS will give a message of CGHS ATW-1 with altitude, temperature, pressure, battery voltage and TX packet count since last power on.

 

WSPR will only give a 4 digit location code that equates to a 70 x 100 mile grid. 

 

Transmission will only happen if the sun is shining. 

 

With luck it will make it to 42k ft and not get stuck in the polar vortex. Since we are launching so late in the day, we will not know if it gets to its flight altitude before the sun goes down. 

 

Thank you Paul Lowell, Lee Meadows, the guys at QRP Labs, CGHS and of course Alex.  Without them we would not be doing this. 

 

Here is the current predicted route of the first few days.  With more luck it will be around the world on 20 days and Alex will be $500 richer.  He will donate the money to some STEM based outreach program. 

[Paul Lowell]

The flight has woken-up with sunrise and is transmitting its location out in the middle of the Atlantic (see WSPR tracking below).  

It's 10mW transmissions are being heard 3500 miles away!

[Paul Lowell]

Tim's balloon is approaching Europe!

APRS is starting to be received as well as it nears the coast.

https://tracker.habhub.org/#!mt=roadmap&mz=6&qm=1_day&f=KM4EFW-12&q=!RS_*;

On Wednesday, January 29, 2020 at 4:15:34 PM UTC-5, Paul Lowell wrote:

[Tim Wiwel]

Looks like it is heading for the UK blackout zone.  

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[Paul Lowell]

Great fun watching the flight today!

Tim was up early this morning to catch the packets as the solar cell charged up the payload.  The balloon floated at around 39,000ft across Eastern Europe and shutdown as sunset approached in Romania.

Here is the track prediction for the next few days

The current plan is to get online at midnight tonight and have a watch party as the sunrises in the middle east after midnight EST.

You can also follow at:  https://twitter.com/Helios_2020

[Paul Lowell]

Payload came to life around 0115EST this morning, right on time.

The amount and duration of sunlight increased as it traveled south.  And, perhaps due to direct solar heating, it reported temperatures above freezing -- a full 50C delta from day to night.  Tim wonders what that temperature swings will do to the hardware.

The forward progress slowed down as wandered into calmer winds.  But it is expected to drift into a stronger jet to carry it across Asia.

[Paul Lowell]

Running the gauntlet

By now ATW-1 should be in Pakistan on it way north of Mt Everest.

Over the past 24 hours, it has drifted through Syria and apparently entered the stronger jet stream that took it across Iraq and Iran during its nighttime.  When sunlight woke it up this morning it was already in the middle of Afghanistan.  There were no active APRS receiving stations in this region, so data was only from the WSPR transmissions.  Rough calculations show that it is moving again at 100mph.

Will it pass the half-way point today?

Congrats Tim and David for making it this far!!

The 10mW WSPR transmitter has worked well.  It's signal was picked up by a HAM in Clayton NC while the balloon was in Romania -- distance of 4,350 nautical miles !   Actually, for all we know, the signal could have bounced around the planet in the other, longer direction.

My guess from the predictions is that the balloon will next meet sunshine around central China.  Will it survive the Himalayan weather?
Hopefully we will get APRS data in China before it heads over Japan and into the Pacific.

[Paul Lowell]

Headed home!

ATW-1 has passed the halfway point and remains inside a very fast air current.

It woke-up overnight in central China, making considerably good progress.  During the middle of its day, it fell silent for about four hours.  Was this due to poor signal propagation, or was there a hardware problem?  Towards sunset though, both the WSPR and APRS packets made it through.  It seems healthy.

The flight should now settle into a VERY fast jet that will shoot the balloon over Japan overnight and well out into the Pacific (I estimate at 150 mph!!).  There are a lot of APRS receivers in Japan, but the payload will sadly be asleep during this part of the flight.

Here is the tantalizing projected path for the next few days:

[Paul Lowell]

See also @Helios_2020

At the time of this writing, David's ATW-1 should have crossed the International Date Line on its way the west coast of North America.

During its previous day, it traveled out of China, across South Korea and Japan, and then out into the Pacific.  It speed was somewhere between 150-200mph.  Only a single APRS ping was received in Japan as the balloon was just getting out of range when the sun rose.

It is expected to spend the next 30 or so hours out in the Pacific "changing lanes" in the jet stream.  It should slow down briefly to take a northern tack.

  Then hopefully it will enter Canada, miss the storms in Brittish Columbia, and give a tour of the US.

[Paul Lowell]

As mentioned in the previous post, the balloon apparently did slow down and take the more northerly path.  This afternoon (Eastern Time) it woke up out in the Gulf of Alaska, about 500 miles from Juneau.  At this time, only WSPR packets are being received.  I'm not sure if the sunlight will hold out long enough for APRS traffic to be received at the few iGates in British Columbia.

If all goes well and it avoids snowstorms, then it may wake up again over Colorado -- tomorrow afternoon EST.

[Paul Lowell]

ATW-1 has woken up over Bozeman, MT

Watch it here

https://tracker.habhub.org/#!mt=roadmap&mz=5&qm=All&mc=40.07293,264.68059&q=!RS_*;km4efw-12

Hopefully it can stay out of the snow storm as it drifts through Colorado.

[John Brier]

Amazing! Almost home! 

Thanks for your updates. They have been very helpful.

John Brier

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[Paul Lowell]

Congratulations to David (Alex) and Tim on successful completion of ATW-1's first trip around the world!

Just moments ago it made it back around -- amazingly close to its launch point as well !

From here, it looks like it is joining a VERY fast jet of wind that may take it to England by this time tomorrow!  200 mph+

From there, there are a couple of possible paths depending upon altitudes, butterflies flapping, etc...

 

[Mauricio Tavares]

Could I persuade any of you to make a talk about this project at the triangle linux users group? Every meeting we have we do mention nc nearspace and I just think this launch is a great way to put a face on the group.

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[Tim Wiwel]

Mauricio:

My son was the driving factor on this project and I am sure he would love to do a pitch at the linux users group.   How do we sign up?  This first flight was a plug and chug implemented by standing on the shoulders of other very smart people.  For future flights, Paul and I have some crazy ideas. 

Tim 

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[Mauricio Tavares]

On Fri, Feb 28, 2020 at 10:53 AM Tim Wiwel <tim....@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Mauricio:
> My son was the driving factor on this project and I am sure he would love to do a pitch at the linux users group. How do we sign up?

stee...@trilug.org to be official. Can even blame me

> This first flight was a plug and chug implemented by standing on the shoulders of other very smart people.

In the end of the day, isn't that what we all do? I mean, even
Ol' Isaac Newton said that.

> For future flights, Paul and I have some crazy ideas.
>

Crazy ideas are the best.

> Tim
>
> On Thu, Feb 27, 2020 at 3:33 PM Mauricio Tavares <raub...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> Could I persuade any of you to make a talk about this project at the triangle linux users group? Every meeting we have we do mention nc nearspace and I just think this launch is a great way to put a face on the group.
>>
>> On Sat, Feb 8, 2020 at 11:06 AM Paul Lowell <pa...@lowell.to> wrote:
>>>
>>> Congratulations to David (Alex) and Tim on successful completion of ATW-1's first trip around the world!
>>>
>>>

>>> Just moments ago it made it back around -- amazingly close to its launch point as well !
>>>
>>>

>>> From here, it looks like it is joining a VERY fast jet of wind that may take it to England by this time tomorrow! 200 mph+
>>> From there, there are a couple of possible paths depending upon altitudes, butterflies flapping, etc...
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>

> To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ncnearspace/CAPO0TPG4rvEVyZVBx87SmYDA%3Da6rUY%3D4aVxhxCE0eXgjcAz-hg%40mail.gmail.com.

[Paul Lowell]

Here is my April 10 update at  http://www.ncnearspace.org/missions/nsl-79

 - - -

10 Apr, 2020:  It's been 10 days since last confirmed contact with the flight.

The last APRS packet was received as the balloon past the Canary Islands approaching the coast of Morocco midday on 31 Mar.  

    2020-03-31 11:27:14   Position: 30°11.70' N 10°24.24' W 

WSPR packets continued until sunset as it made landfall and flew over Marrakesh, Morocco.  No further APRS packets have been received at this time.  Assuming flight consistent with the previous trips, the balloon should have followed its usual patch across the Mid-east, China, and over the Pacific.

But a few days later, a single WSPR packet was received in an unusual location!

    2020-04-03 14:50    Grid square: QP58

This location is in northern Siberia (roughly 68.5N, 151.0E).  Which seams way off of the expected path.   Only a single packet was received.  Was there some sort of GPS or data corruption that led to this strange packet?  Or did the balloon really drift towards the north pole?
If the balloon did travel far north, then it makes sense that we haven't heard from it.  The sun angle would be too low in the sky illuminate the solar panels sufficiently.

If this did somehow happen, the projected flight path would keep the balloon far north for quite some time to come.   Will we ever hear from it again?

[Tim Wiwel]

Paul:

Thanks for posting.  I have thought long and hard about that Northeast Siberia ping.  No way it could of gotten there.  It's gone.  Now for the next attempt....What shell we do?

Tim. 

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