Flight #2000-2 "Phoenix-II"
Launch Date: June 5.
January 2, 2001
Ground photos now online.
June 22, 2000
I finally found my Street Atlas CD! Here's the map of the flight:
June 14, 2000
GPS raw data now online. Map to come soon.
June 8, 2000
Flight 2000-2 reached a max altitude of 88,426 feet.
Recovery crew photo with package. Flight
photos will be added when they are scanned. GPS track will be added
later as well.
June 5, 2000
Third time's the charm?
Flight 2000-2 has been particularly problematic for our group. We suffered
two launch failures, one on the 30th, and one this morning (June 5).
The latest problem was a misinformed and inexperienced launch team
assembled a tether that was too weak, and it broke during a wind-gust
just before liftoff. A third attempt was made this afternoon with a
proper tether, and the gondola successfully lifted off at 4:49pm
central time. All systems seem to be functioning nominally as of
this report (6:12pm), and the chasers are on the trail of the package.
Let's hope Murphy doesn't have any more surprises for us...
Update: Success! The gondola was found at approx. 9:00 pm.
No damage was apparent. Descent rate indicated the parachute functioned
perfectly. The cutdown triggered about 20 minutes early, due to problems
on the ground during the launch (during which the flight timer was not
reset). More details to follow.
May 30, 2000
Well, it was bound to happen sooner or later. Our group has experienced
its first launch failure. I was out of town on the weekend in question,
so I'll relate the events as told to me by another group member...
Saturday, May 27th, was too cloudy to launch, so the mission was postponed
a day. On sunday, the 28th, everything looked right. John G and Blaise
filled the balloon and got things ready as Charlie went down-range to
await launch. Everything was assembled and turned on, and just as John
was letting the line out a gust of wind grabbed the balloon. The sudden
tension on the lanyard caused the split ring on the cut-down mechanism
to pull apart. Thus John and Blaise were left holding the parachute
and gondola while the balloon, lanyard, and badly bent split ring sailed
away.
Blaise says watching a $30 balloon filled with $70 of helium
float away without your payload attached is very frustraiting.
However, at least the gondola, parachute, and release mechanism
were not damaged. The release was still locked down, we just need
to use a stronger split ring next time (or a solid ring, or more than
one split ring).
In any case, the chasers were notified of the problem, and the mission
called off for that day. We will try to launch the same gondola at a
later date.
May 26, 2000
Flight 2000-2 has been scheduled for the Memorial Day weekend.
NOTAMs have been filed for May 27, 28, and 29, and the flight
will take place at 9:30 am on the first day of acceptable
weather.
May 13, 2000
The flight has been postponed a second time, again due to bad
weather (high winds and clouds). Schedule conflicts with our
ham chasers has precluded determining a fall-back date at this
time.
May 12, 2000
The assembly meeting last night was short, due to the fact that
the gondola for 2000-2 was readied for flight two weeks ago, then
grounded due to bad weather. The forecast for the 13th is not
good: a low pressure system is sweeping across North Dakota, dropping
rain and snow (unusual for this late in the spring) along the way.
Wind and cloud cover may again postpone this flight to a later date.
There is currently no fall-back date set if we have to abort on
the 13th, keep watching here for more info.
April 30, 2000
Flight 2000-2 has been postponed due to bad weather (rain and total
cloud cover). We will determine the next launch window at the next
meeting and post it here.
April 28, 2000
Weather report for Sunday, April 30 calls for clouds and rain all
morning. We cannot launch into more than 50% cloud cover (FAR 101),
so if this forecast holds, we will postpone. More info will be posted
here as it develops.
Flight 2000-2 will use the gondola built for flight
2000-1. The two 35mm film cameras have been replaced with new ones
(Pentax PC-550's). The main
mission of this flight will be to try to get over 100,000 feet in altitude
before cutdown. We will accomplish this by putting less gas in the balloon
(shooting for two pounds of positive lift rather than the four of last time).
This time the film cameras will be tethered to the payload frame to avoid
their loss.
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.
Return to the UND HABP webpage.