HacDC Spaceblimp 4

Spaceblimp-4 sucessfully launched and retrieved: April 10, 2011

Summary

We launched from Breezewood Elementary School‎ at 1:30 pm, the balloon popped at 2:41 pm at 103,764 ft, and touched back down at 3:09 pm. Again, we were exceptionally lucky with the recovery and were able to drive up to within 200 ft of the package.

Data

Accelerometer

The accelerometer package flown was the same as last time, with the exception of having half the memory, so there are 50 observations per second.

Accelerometer CSV raw data

On-board Logging

The on-board datalogger keeps records of interior and exterior temperature from two temperature sensors, time and location from a GPS unit, and ...

Launch Plans

Planned launch date:	Sunday, April 10, 2011
Launch time:	10:00 AM, Launch should take less than an hour.
Launch Location:	Where: Breezewood Elementary School‎ Address: 133 North Main Street, Breezewood PA 15533-8142 Lat/Long: 39.9970,-78.2440
Coordination/Talk-in:	146.685 MHz simplex
Planned Altitude:	100,000 feet
Planned Ascent Rate:	1,300 ft/min
Planned Descent Rate:	1,000 ft/min
Primary Beacon:	Tiny Track 4 with 0.5 W transmitter on 144.390 MHz, call sign W3HAC-11 (map). $3 GPS module
Secondary Beacon:	Son-of-WhereAVR with ublox GPS. Yaesu VX-1 handi-talkie with 1 W Transmitter, call sign W3HAC-12 (map), Frequency 432.225 MHz
Payload:	Still camera, HD video camera, Geiger counter to measure cosmic rays, a nine degree of freedom Inertial Measurement Unit, accelerometer, pressure, light and temperature sensors.

The balloon is a 2000g Kaymont/Totex with 291 cubic feet of helium. The total weight of the capsule is about five pounds.

HacDC Spaceblimp Project:

Main Page	Press Page	First Launch (Found)	Second Launch (Successful)
Third Launch (Successful)	Fourth Launch (Successful)	Fifth Launch (3% short of goal)	Sixth Launch (Successful)	Seventh Launch (Successful)

HacDC Spaceblimp Team Contact Info:

[email protected]

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