[HSIS] Fwd: Maker 256 launch Weather forecast and Landing Prediction

Thu Apr 1 11:36:08 CDT 2010

Sounds good to me. We will likely get some tips from the UAH launch.

On Thu, Apr 1, 2010 at 11:34 AM, Ethan Chew <spacefelix at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hey guys,
>
>      Looks like we have a launch scrub into next week due to thunderstorms
> and this Saturday's weather landing us in the backwoods of Tennessee.
> Rescheduling launch to April 10th or 17th.  On April 10th, Bill Brown will
> be launching a couple balloons with the UAH balloon launch team.  This would
> be a good opportunity for us to learn how a balloon launch is done.  Also,
> we may be able to do a test flight of our payload on one of the UAH balloons
> if there is space available.  Otherwise, he will be opening up launch
> opportunities on April 11th or April 17th from his farmhouse with our 800g
> balloon.  Let me know what you think.
>
>           - Ethan
>
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: <wb8elk at aol.com>
> Date: Thu, Apr 1, 2010 at 1:09 AM
> Subject: Maker 256 launch Weather forecast and Landing Prediction
> To: spacefelix at gmail.com
> Cc: brimstone at the.narro.ws, omegix at gmail.com, nayaksatyam at gmail.com
>
>
> Ethan and all at Maker 256:
>
>   Here's my analysis for this Saturday, April 3rd (I recommend postponing a
> week until April 10th):
>
>   The landing zone (map attached) is in a very rugged area of middle
> Tennessee....odds of recovery can be low in this region.
>
>   The current surface weather is now predicted for 40 percent chance of
> Thunderstorms and potentially gusting winds for Saturday morning and early
> afternoon....with 75 percent cloud cover.
>
>   For an outside inflation, this kind of surface forecast is not a good
> thing...also flying a camera payload with that much overcast and humidity
> could fog up your camera lens.
>
>   Added to the negatives is that most of my chase and recovery folks are
> occupied or traveling for Easter weekend.
>
> I recommend that you fly the following weekend either April 10th or April
> 11th.....on the 10th, we are flying 2 or 3 balloons from the back parking
> lot of the NSSTC building on Lakeside Drive across from UAH campus. These
> are student flights for the UAH BalloonSat senior engineering class. We will
> have our launch team as well as a number of very experienced chase and
> recovery folks in several vehicles there.
>
> This is a great opportunity to see how we do the launch, tracking and
> recovery and get pointers on how to track and chase before doing your own
> flight. We usually have room in the chase vehicles to take some of you along
> on the chase.
>
> There is also the possibility that we can send up your payload on one of
> the 2 or 3 balloons we are flying if they have room...no guarantees...but if
> they have room you'd get a free ride and just about guaranteed that you'll
> get your experiment back with that many chase vehicles tracking these.
>
> If they don't have room to fly your payload on that Saturday and you feel
> like you'd like to take a shot at tracking after you've seen how it's done
> with the UAH flights....then we could potentially do your balloon from my
> farmhouse east of Hartselle on Sunday the 11th.
>
>
> If you still opt to fly this Saturday, although I wouldn't recommend it...I
> may be able to come out to give pointers...but probably won't risk my camera
> and tracking equipment....I usually scrub a launch that is predicted to land
> in that region of TN.
>
> Once again...you all are welcome to attend the UAH flights a week from this
> Saturday starting around 9 am April 10th behind the NSSTC building.
>
> - Bill Brown
> www.wb8elk.com
>
>
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Ethan Chew <spacefelix at gmail.com>
> To: wb8elk at aol.com
> Cc: brimstone <brimstone at the.narro.ws>; Jeff Cotten <omegix at gmail.com>;
> nayaksatyam at gmail.com
> Sent: Tue, Mar 30, 2010 8:43 pm
> Subject: Re: Maker 256 launch
>
> Hello,
>
>       The people working on our systems are as follows:
>
> Brimstone - Matt (brimstone at the.narro.ws) - Is working on tracking via
> cell phone and his laptop with GPS coordinates.
> omegix - Jeff Cotten (omegix at gmail.com) - Has been coordinating with J&M
> Cylinder in Hartselle for our helium on launch day.  He will be able to
> provide the details for where to find us on launch day.
> BendersGame - Satyam (nayaksatyam at gmail.com) - Is working on the camera.
>
> In the meanwhile, our mailing list can be subscribed to at:
> http://lists.makerslocal.org/mailman/listinfo/hsis
>
> Our project's wikipage is at:
> https://256.makerslocal.org/wiki/index.php/HSIS
>
> Thank-you for your recommendations!
>
>                   - Ethan
>
> On Tue, Mar 30, 2010 at 4:07 PM, <wb8elk at aol.com> wrote:
>
>> I can be at your proposed April 3rd launch as long as UAH is not
>> flying...so far I think they are not, let me know when and where...my radio
>> ground station and the barn where I often launch balloons is at my
>> farmhouse on Wilson Mtn just east of Hartselle if you want to consider that
>> as a launchsite....I'll bring my balloon GPS tracker and a very tiny 18 gram
>> video camera that costs $59...it's the size of a small thumb drive...I flew
>> it last weekend and it worked up to 33,000 feet with no insulation or
>> external battery...will insulate this time with a small external battery
>> pack. I did some still frame captures of the video and it looks quite
>> acceptable. I'll send you some results of that tonight.
>>
>> The cellphone tracking is doomed to failure except for it's use as a
>> backup recovery position report if you're lucky enough to be near to a cell
>> tower and if the cellphone payload is not laying on the ground. The advice
>> offered by the MIT students does not work well due to the very nature of the
>> cellular telephony. I'll bring the GPS ham radio tracking equipment that
>> I've designed...weighs about 10 ounces....same goes for many GPS
>> receivers...most do NOT work above 60k feet....I use ones that do work there
>> and there are only a few that work. I'll include a FindMeSpot GlobalStar
>> tracker...it's main use is in backup landing site confirmation but it does
>> plot the flight up to 60k feet every 10 to 20 minutes....it usually comes
>> back to life when it parachute back below 60k.
>>
>>
>> We flew an 8th grade science fair camera project last weekend with a $150
>> Tachyon XC helmet cam....it did great...one of the photos can be
>> viewed here:  www.nearspaceresearch.com
>>
>> Hand warmers are needless weight...they need oxygen to operate (so don't
>> work in the stratosphere) and sometimes causes enough of a temperature
>> differential to fog up the camera.
>>
>> I'll bring my balloon filling equipment and a parachute.
>>
>> Are you flying with helium or hydrogen?...makes a big difference in the
>> regulator as I don't have a hydrogen regulator...you also have to use
>> grounding precautions for hydrogen.
>>
>> I can run landing site predictions...I wrote the original Balloon Track
>> prediction program that's now on the web at :  www.nearspaceventures.com
>>
>> There is a new camcorder the size of a keychain holder on eBay for $11
>> (with shipping)....might be able to use that...when I get it in will test it
>> on a flight in the next couple of weeks....we're doing multiple launches at
>> UAH on April 10....you all are welcome to attend these.
>>
>>
>> Let me know more particulars on when you want to fly this and payload
>> weights you are considering flying.
>>
>> - Bill Brown
>> 256-656-7189
>>
>>
>
>
>
>
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