FLIGHT RECAP OF EOSS-37


LAUNCH DATE: Nov 14, 1998
LAUNCH TIME: 15:00 UTC - 08:00 MST
LAUNCH SITE: Windsor, Colorado

LAUNCH SITE COORDINATES:

  • 40 deg 28.526" North Latitude
  • 104 deg 57.678" West Longitude

TOUCHDOWN COORDINATES: (approximately)

  • 39 deg 43.8845' North
  • 103 deg 04.3828' West

ACTUAL TRACK: 105 Degrees, Approx 114 Miles

PREDICTED TRACK: 123.5 Degrees, 94.7 Miles

Error of 21.4 Miles on a bearing of 85.6 degrees from predicted landing point.

FLIGHT EXPERIMENT: Demonstration Project for Stars
PROJECT INTEGRATOR: EOSS

FREQUENCIES:

  • Launch Site:
    • Simplex 146.550 MHz
  • GPS - APRS (independent package - AA0P-11)
    • 144.390 MHz with EOSS digi on board
  • Beacon
    • output 147.555 MHz - Beacon worked throughout flight
  • Telemetry:
    • 144.340 MHz Good packet through most of the flight. Battery problems may have cause early LOS.
  • ATV:
    • 426.250 MHz    ATV Commanded on and off due to Low Battery Status.
  • Foxhunters:
    • 449.450 MHz Rocky Mountain Radio League
    • 146.58 MHz Simplex Field Frequency

Flight Recap

Click for Pictures

by Larry Cerney, N0STZ

Hello All;

EOSS flight 37 lifted off right at 0800 this morning (Saturday). We had about 20 students from Englewood HS and the Lockheed Martin Space Explorers viewing the flight. Thanks to all the students who got up early on a Saturday morning and drive about 75 miles to watch the launch. Hope you had a great time. Sorry I couldn't stick around longer.

I was stopped by a Windsor policeman as I left the launch site. I had to fill him in on the details of the flight. I guess some concerned citizen thought it best to have us checked out before we endangered some hapless flier. That matter cleared up, it was off to the chase.

The package we flew was our old and somewhat reliable shuttle II along with the WB4ETT beacon and AA0P's APRS digipeater with GPS. It was a good thing we had three separately trackable packages on the string. Shortly after launch Mike, W5VSI, noticed that the battery voltage onboard Shuttle II was down to around 10.5 volts. To save battery power we limited the use of ATV during the flight. It appears that we may have gotten a bad battery from the 12.5 year old surplus Lithium battery packs we use. The battery power, while low, continued to operate the telemetry from the shuttle until just around burst which was at around 96,000 feet. After burst, I don't believe we got any additional telemetry from the shuttle.

AA0P's APRS package worked fine through out the flight even though Jack was trying out a new 300 mW credit card transceiver in the package. The new transceiver worked great for those of us in the field, but there were some problems hearing it back at the launch site.

The flight lasted about two and a half hours and covered 114 miles from the launch site at a bearing of 105 degrees. The payloads were recovered by 1100 a mile South of Arikaree CO (don't blink or you'll miss it, population 5 or 6). After visiting Arikaree, we all met back at the Dairy King Restaurant in the thriving metropolis of Last Chance for lunch (population 30 or 40).

All in all, it was another good flight.......


Balloon Track for Windows                                Version 1.4.7
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Flight Recap
Friday, November 13, 1998          EOSS-37          DNR_98_11_14_1200Z.dat
10:17:48 AM                        Windsor                    wbaltrak.ini
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Winds DataFile
-----------------------
Station: DNR
Date: 1200Z 14 NOV 98
DataFile Status: Intact
Intact Records: 33
Corrupt Records: 0
Launch Site
-----------------------
Launch Point: 40.4744� lat.   -104.9628� long.
Ascent Rate: 968 feet per minute
Descent Rate: 1230 feet per minute
Altitude: 5280 feet
Predicted Landing Site
-----------------------
Landing Point: 39.7082� lat.  -103.4749� long.
Altitude: 5000 feet
Flight Time: 123 Minutes
Bearing: 123.5� True
Range: 94.7 Mi.
Actual Landing Site
-----------------------
Landing Point: 39.7314� lat.  -103.0731� long.
Bearing: 116.6� True
Range: 112.2 Mi.
Difference from Predicted to Actual Landing Site
--------------------------------------------------
Bearing: 85.6� True
Range: 21.4 Mi.

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