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

[Matt]

Ethan Chew 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 <mailto: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 <mailto:spacefelix at gmail.com>
> Cc: brimstone at the.narro.ws <mailto:brimstone at the.narro.ws>,
> omegix at gmail.com <mailto:omegix at gmail.com>, nayaksatyam at gmail.com
> <mailto: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 <http://www.wb8elk.com>


Attached is a smaller version of the map Bill mentions in his email.

#matt
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