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Fall 2004 Issue |
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Flight of the Near-Space
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In
the last issue of CQ VHF, WØZC covered the Great Plains Super Launch of
2004. In this issue, KD4STH discusses his payload, which was attached to
one of the balloons launched. |
The purple Copernicus II and red Eratosthenes modules sitting on the tarmac while the balloons were being filled. |
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On the 2nd and 3rd of July 2004, I attended
the largest get together in the field of amateur near-space exploration,
the Great Plains Super Launch (GPSL). The 2nd was a fun day, with
opportunities to meet with the movers and shakers of the amateur
near-space community and hear their presentations on topics related to
this exciting field. Saturday the 3rd, however, was an even better day
because of the six near-space launches that took place. In this article I
will share some aspects of that Saturday with you. I’ll explain the
configuration of the “near spacecraft” that I launched and the results it
returned. Along the way, I’ll introduce you to some of the people who
helped make GPSL and my flight a success. I use a very modular design for my near spacecrafts. This design lets me take advantage of the benefits that come from standardization, thereby keeping the airframe and avionics weight low. The two modules in my near spacecraft for GPSL 2004, Near-Space Pirate 2004C (NSP04C), were the Copernicus II and the Eratosthenes (I like naming my modules after astronomers). Both modules were connected with Spectra kite line, but unlike many of my previous flights, no umbilical for data or power connected the two modules. I used a homemade 5-foot diameter parachute for recovery and a 1500-gram balloon for lift. A 1500-gram balloon is not the most frequently used balloon, but it is still fairly common in amateur near space. From the top of the filled balloon to the bottom of the lowest module, my stack was approximately 50 feet tall. This was a rather big beast. The Copernicus II module carried a flight computer (which I call the Central Computer Programmable Sequencer, or CC/PS for short). The CC/PS is built around the Basic Stamp 2 plus (microcontroller), a Maxim 186 (8-channel, 12-bit analog to digital converter), Tiny Trak 3 (APRS tracker), and a RAMPack B (non-volatile memory for science data storage). My GPS receiver is a Garmin GPS35, and the radio is an Alinco DJ-S11, 340-mW, 2-meter HT. Inside the Copernicus II were a Geiger counter, a micro-weather station, and an APS camera with a 40-exposure roll of film. Also, I placed two T-shirts and several ounces of plant seeds inside the module.
The Eratosthenes module acted primarily as a
back-up APRS tracker. Like the Copernicus II module, it carried a Tiny
Trak 3 along with a Garmin GPS35 and Alinco DJ-S11. Above the APRS tracker
I placed a Hitch Hiker, an experimental data logger that I am developing.
On this mission, the Hitch Hiker recorded data from a second weather
station and operated a digital pencam. The Hitch Hiker also operated a
release mechanism for a surprise during this flight. Finally, I tossed a
commercial data logger into the Eratosthenes, a Hobo data logger, and
connected a temperature and light sensor to it. Suspended below the
Eratosthenes was my second surprise for Kansas, and I’ll describe it a bit
later in the article. Click here to return to Fall 2004 highlights Click here to subscribe to VHF _________________ © Copyright 2004, CQ Communications, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced or republished, including posting to a website, in part or in whole, by any means, without the express written permission of the publisher, CQ Communications, Inc. Hyperlinks to this page are permitted.
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