Announcement of EOSS-41


Flight Delayed 1 day due to Weather

LAUNCH DATE: June 18, 2000
LAUNCH TIME: 15:00 UTC - 09:00 MDT
LAUNCH SITE: Pikes Peak Radio Control Club Airport (Here's a Map.
Located East of Falcon Colorado on US 24 (9 or 10 miles east of Colorado Springs on US 24). 4 miles east of Falcon take Judge Orr road east. Follow this road 4.2 miles to Pikes Peak Radio Control Club Airport. Use the simplex frequency at the launch site for talk-in.

LAUNCH SITE COORDINATES:

  • 38 deg 57' 17.65" North Latitude
  • 104 deg 30' 04.43 West Longitude

PREDICTED TRACK: 

  Landing Point: 38.988� lat.  -103.6865� long.
           Altitude: 4199 feet
      Flight Time: 120 Minutes
           Bearing: 86.8� True
             Range: 43.8 Mi.

PRIMARY FLIGHT EXPERIMENT: Second test of new �Shuttle� built by UCCS. Test of shuttle�s flight worthiness, downlink telemetry, system control and ATV. The ATV will be used to monitor and confirm the success of the secondary experiment.

PRIMARY PROJECT INTEGRATOR: Colorado Springs (UCCS), Dr. Chuck Fosha, Brett Allard, and a host of aerospace students

SECONDARY INTEGRATOR: Pioneer Astronautics, Dr. Robert Zubrin, Dean Spieth, �Mars Micro Balloon Probe�.

SECONDARY EXPERIMENT: This is the first of many planned EOSS flights for the �Mars Micro Balloon Probe� which will place a series of balloons in the Martian atmosphere. The objective of this flight are to test and develop inflatable gases from compounds that are normally liquids at Standard Temperature and Pressure (STP). The Mars surface pressure is simulated at 100,000 feet above sea level, thus the experiment on an EOSS balloon. This experiment will attempt to inflate balloons using various compounds. This will also permit a test of the deployment canisters required on Mars.

FREQUENCIES:

  • Pre Launch Fox Hunters Net
    • Saturday night, June 17, Marty, WA0GEH will conduct the tracking and recovery net at 8:00 MDT. Logistics for the tracking and recovery operation will be discussed. Please plan to listen in or, if you are interested, joining the effort.
    • Tracking and Recovery People: Please advise if you can support this flight by contacting Marty Griffin, wa0geh@arrl.net or 303-470-5471. This will save a phone call, thanks.
    • 147.225 MHz (Denver Metro)
    • 146.940 MHz (Denver Metro BACKUP freq. no backup for the Springs, sorry)
    • 145.160 MHz (Springs)
  • Launch Site:
    • Simplex 146.550 MHz
  • Telemetry:
    • 144.340 MHz FM (1 Watt output) - The Packet telemetry stream is in ax.25 format at 1200 baud and is readable in plain English for the most part. Included in each telemetry frame is an APRS position string (APRS users see note below). Every few minutes a CW ID is transmitted on this frequency. This is the UCCS Shuttle, not an EOSS Shuttle II. So telemetry will differ slightly from what is normally seen.
  • ATV:
    • UCCS Shuttle - 426.250 MHz AM (1 Watt output) - NTSC video
  • Cross-Band Repeater: (see notes)
    • 445.975 (input)
    • 147.555 (output)
  • Beacon 
    • 147.530 MHz (UCCS tracking support) CW Id only (I think)
  • APRS:
    • 147.555 MHz on the xband repeater output, there will be an APRS packet burst. See notes below.
  • Foxhunters:
    • 448.450 MHz Pikes Peak FM Association Repeater (approval received 5/30/00)
    • 146.580 MHz Simplex Field Frequency
  • HF Net:
    • 7.235 MHz -  net control Mary Francis Bartels, KI0DZ

notes:

Shuttle Generated Automatic Position Reporting System (APRS):

Many thanks go to Bob, N0TI, who shoehorned the Bob-E box code into the RMRL crossband repeater. More thanks go to Mike W5VSI who mashed the hardware into the repeater enclosure. Now the APRS data will be sent down on the 147.555 downlink after the input 445.975 squelch closes. Once per minute.

The packet callsign will be: W0WYX

In order to minimize possible interference with the tracking and recovery team  and other hams in your area, we request you turn off the position beacons at your APRS station on 147.555 MHz. There is NOT a digi aboard this payload so packets addressed to:

APRS via W0WYX

Cross Band Operations:

  • Transmit to the repeater on 445.975 MHz, listen to 147.555 MHz. 
  • Watch out for feedback, use headphones or muting. 
  • Listen for net control operations. 
  • Always defer to the recovery team as they may need the frequency for tracking efforts. WA0GEH will take control if that is necessary.