Mission 7 Patch







Flight #2000-1 "Phoenix"

Launch Date: April 8, 2000









Signal Report Form

April 28, 2000

Additional photos online

Air temperature vs. mission time:

April 17, 2000

GPS Altitude track


April 13, 2000

It's confirmed, our max altitude on this flight was 94,025 feet!! Here's the GPS data:

GPS Track of flight 2000-1
Plotted with DeLorme Street Atlas USA 6.0


Raw GPS Data

April 11, 2000

Recovery Photos now online.

April 8, 2000

Success!!

Here's a message I emailed out after the mission. I'll post more info, maps, and images later. This is just a brief synopsys: 

        Just a quick note to let everyone know our first balloon flight
of 2000 was mostly successful.
        The balloon was launched from an access road to an abandoned
missile silo near Michigan, ND at 9:24 AM.  The balloon entered a 
stronger-than-expected jetstream and was blown almost 140 miles 
down-range, finally landing in Cotton Lake near Detroit Lakes, MN.
The gondola was recovered about 12:40 PM and returned to the Space Studies
Dept. at around 4:30 PM that night.
        Successes: the GPS does indeed function above 50,000 feet (some
commercial units won't to meet export limitations), and recorded a
max altitude of over 90,000 feet (our highest flight yet!).  FAA
approach control at the Grand Forks Airport was able to acquire and track
the gondola on radar, confirming that our radar reflector works.  The
new cut-down device works, releasing the balloon at 2 hours and 10 minutes
mission elapsed time.  GPS data finally gave us some useful numbers for
balloon performance: 1200 fpm rise, 3000 fpm fall rates.  Our Electrical
Engineering undergrad retrieved her data logger experiment and downloaded
the temperature data from it.  It will be correlated with the GPS data
to generate a temperature profile of the atmosphere that day.  Finally,
the plant seeds flown by our physics guy were retrieved intact, but soggy.
        Failures/annoyances: Both the payload designer and I failed to
install the safety lanyards on the 35mm film cameras before they were
placed in the gondola.  Unlike previous flights, the cameras were not
glued or bolted in this time, but merely friction fit into their nooks
and held in place by the access panel on the side of the payload.  When
the payload was recovered, neither the panel nor the cameras were anywhere
to be found.  Theories have the panel being either blown off by large
sheer-force winds in the jet, or knocked off when the payload splashed
down in Cotton Lake, and allowing the cameras to fall out.  In
either case, our beloved Minolta AF-25 and Pentax PC-55 cameras are
either shattered or at the bottom of the lake.  They can be easily
replaced, but since they survived multiple trips to the stratosphere
and even a few static poster displays at meetings, their loss is rather
dissapointing.
        Special thanks to our chase teams, who went almost twice the
distance to recover this payload as the previous longest flight.
It is truely amazing that our first payload to end up in the drink
continued to transmit tracking signals, despite slightly soggy 
electronics and batteries.  Luckily for the chasers, the gondola washed
up on shore and was easily retrieved, but water and bits of lake weed
inside the electronics boxes leaves no doubt about the payload taking
a swim.  This episode has us thinking of possible water-proofing for
future missions.  Sealing containers that are expected to go to 90,000
feet presents other problems, we'll have to see what develops.


April 7, 2000

From our chase coordinator: 

University of North Dakota, Department of Space Studies
Regarding High Altitude Balloon Launch

Frequency List/Chaser Cheat Sheet.

BALLOON FREQUENCY:  (APRS) 145.600 MHz.
                    (REPEATER) 445.600 MHz.

Launch Site Directions.
Missile site 1 mile West of Michigan, ND. On South side of HWY 2.

Primary Repeaters:
        Grand Forks - Larimore: 146.940 (-) GFARC
        Larimore - Petersburg: 146.820 (-) 
        If out of range of repeaters follow these instructions.
          1) Call for balloon group on 146.700 (-) Superlink system
          2) Call through the 30 second repeater on board the balloon on
             UHF frequency: 445.600 FM (NO OFFSET)

Other repeaters:
        Devils Lake - 146.880 (-) Superlink code: 338
        Maddock - 147.240 (+) Superlink code: 623
        Karlstead - 145.470 (-) Superlink code: 327
        Fisher - 146.700 (-) Superlink code: 327
        Crookston - 147.120 (+)
        Grand Forks Autopatch - 147.030 (-) * up  # down remember to ID.
        UND repeater - 146.865 (-)
        

Balloon Web Address: http://people.cs.und.edu/~nordlie/balloon/

LIST OF POSSIBLE CHASERS / STATIONS FINALISED AT LAUNCH TIME
Mobile:
KC0CRU		Chris           MOBILE          	APRS/MOBILE NET Control
KI0LS           Charlie         MOBILE
APRS/MOBILE 
WA0LPV  	John Engel      MOBILE          	APRS/MOBILE
N0NGW   	Gerry           MOBILE          	APRS/MOBILE/DF GEAR
KE0A            Rod             MOBILE          	DF GEAR
KI0W            Larry           MOBILE          	DF GEAR
KB0YRK  	Mark            MOBILE          	DF GEAR

Stations:
KC0GHM  	Blaise          UND SPACE STUDIES       APRS Station./ NET Control
KC0BUD  	Ryan            UND SIOUX SHACK         APRS Station
KC0XW           Jim             HOME STATION            APRS Station
W0PHD*  	Wally           HOME STATION            HIGH GAIN DF Station
KF0HR*  	Terry           HOME STATION            HIGH GAIN DF Station
N0SRQ*  	Ray             HOME STATION            HIGH GAIN DF Station
N0WWL*  	Tom             HOME STATION            ???????????????????????
KB0QQE* 	Steve           HOME STATION            APRS Station
KC0IJM* 	Jim N           HOME STATION            HIGH GAIN DF Station

W0PHD is in Warren MN,   KF0HR is in Maddock ND,   N0SRQ is in Theif River
Falls MN,     N0WWL is in Niagara ND,    KB0QQE is in Gentley MN,
KC0IJM is
in Fisher MN.


April 6, 2000

After further testing, it turns out the APRS unit is not totally destroyed. The unit can no longer be reprogrammed, but the last program mode still works. We are therefore going for a launch either Saturday, April 8, or Sunday, April 9, depending on the weather.

We will be meeting tonight (April 6) in Space Studies for final programming and check out of the payload.

March 24, 2000

There is an old fable concerning electronic circuits: they run not on electrons, but smoke. If someone carelessly allows the smoke to escape, the circuit will no longer function. Our group can add to this fable: the smoke will usually escape from the most expensive and critical module in the payload (the one with no backup unit sitting on a handy shelf).

Flight 7 will be delayed at least two weeks to allow time for a new APRS encoder to be delivered, tested, and installed. Our techs don't think the GPS receiver itself was damaged, and the flight computer, cameras, and transceivers are all fine. The failure was due to a problem with a modified power connector (hey, at least we don't mistake English units for metric!), and it seems someone may have forgotten to put a fuse where it was needed (no names :).

In any case, these things happen. Apologies to the hams getting ready to track the package. We'll get this thing working yet!

March 22, 2000

Here is the latest status message from the balloon list:

We're going to attempt a balloon launch on Sunday March 26, 2000. There
will be a meeting at 6 PM on Thursday 23 March to work on the payload and
to get last minute bugs worked out.  We are not going to launch on
Saturday for a couple of reasons:  1.  it might rain and be cloudy -
Sunday looks like a better day  and 2.  Gerry Nies made an excellent point
about checking out the less travelled roads on Saturday to see if they are
passable.  If we find the roads are in bad shape or if the winds are bad
or if the weather is rainy, we won't fly.  I initially requested a NOTAM
to fly from Michigan, ND to try to get the payload to land in ND.  The
window is set for 9 - 11 AM.  If we get the weather, the roads are good,
and the winds are light we'll go; if not we'll wait until next week.


March 21, 2000


Assembly:

Gerry, Blaise, and Charlie discuss the payload so far. The payload is sitting on the table on the right. You can also see the steerable parachute test rig in the lower right of the photo.

Gerry and Blaise look over specs for a possible new GPS/APRS receiver and processor that may be built for a future flight.


Two views of the new payload. Note that it's much smaller than our previous ones. The foam shell has not been added yet, which is needed to protect the payload from cold at altitude and damage during landing.

Here, Charlie and Blaise get their software sorted out and tested.



My responsibility for this flight (other than software) was to build the new cut-down mechanism. I decided to go with a design similar to what we used for flight 6, a servo-actuated lever release. With this device, the payload and parachute are attached to the screweyes on the bottom, the balloon tether is attached to the ring that fits over the lever arm, and the servo keeps the lever arm closed until the release signal is sent. Pretty simple physics, but we like to adhere to the KISS principle (Keep It Simple, Stupid!).

For more photos, click here


March 9, 2000

At the meeting on March 7, many ideas were discussed for mission 7. It was decided that trying to use the single 2M transceiver to run both a repeater and the APRS/CW beacon would needlessly complicate matters, so the current plan is to fly a 440MHz repeater 'module'. This repeater will be self-contained, using its own internal battery supply, transceiver, and antenna. When the frequency for the repeater is chosen and tested, it will be published on this webpage and sent to various ham and balloon sites/nets.

February 28, 2000

Work has begun on Mission #7. A new gondola design and wiring harness are already in the works. Here's a rundown of the mission:



Primary Mission Objective: To operate a 2-meter HAM repeater for 2 hours above 80,000 feet.



Procedure: A Simplex Repeater Controller will be used to provide repeater control to the Alinco 2-meter radio. The stamp will switch the radio from repeater operation to telemetry downlink every 2-3 minutes until the cut down device is triggered, or GPS data indicates a rapid decent. When payload begins decent, repeater operation will cease and GPS data down linked continuously.

All repeater traffic will be tape recorded, and call sign traffic will be monitored by a net controller at UND. The call signs will be located and plotted on a map, with color indication of the balloons altitudes at the times of successful contacts. For participating, HAMs will receive a QSL card (with imagery taken from the balloon) and will be mentioned in any journal/magazine articles that result from this experiment .



Return to the UND HABP webpage.