FLIGHT RECAP OF EOSS-24


LAUNCH DATE: 30-July-1995
LAUNCH SITE: NAVSYS Corp. , Monument, Colorado, USA

Take the Baptist Rd. exit from I-25, go west to WoodCarver Rd. (the first left) then south to NAVSYS Corp.

LAUNCH SITE COORDINATES:

  • 39.09165 deg North
  • 104.87129 deg West
  • 39deg 23.22min N.
  • 104deg 53.45min W.

BURST ALTITUDE: 96,141 ft. ASL
BURST TIME:  16:21 UTC

LANDING TIME: 17:19 UTC (approx.)

Shuttle II FREQUENCIES:

  • 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.
  • VHF/UHF Crossband Repeater
    • Input 446.000 MHz
    • Output 147.555 MHz
  • ATV:
    • 426.250 MHz AM (1 Watt output) -NTSC video (b&w)
  • Foxhunters:
    • Pikes Peak FM Association 448.450 MHz
  • HF Net:
    • 7.235 MHz KA0DPC, Sparky, was handling net control

Flight Recap

 

In addition, we conducted tests on our GPS system's software to check for recently made changes. These revisions seemed to work well. GPS maintained lock. Review the Telemetry Log File if you wish.

A new cutdown device was tested. It utilizes a pager receiver retuned for 2 meters. This receiver is "plugged" into a basic stamp computer. The computer decodes DTMF tones and issues commands to the actual nichrome wire cutdown device. During the flight the cutdown wire came loose from the payload support string and therefore did not manage the separation of payload and balloon.

The winds aloft for this mission were of great concern. On Saturday morning a prediction run indicated that the payload would land in the mountains northwest of Colorado Springs. A landing in the mountains is totally unacceptable and grounds for a scrub. Using the winds aloft for Saturday night the situation seemed to improve. But, we were a little worried. There was an easterly winds component (driving the balloon to the west) above 60,000 feet. If the balloon ascended too slowly through these flight levels it was going to travel way to the west and give us real headaches.

On flight day the winds were still indicating a touchdown east of the launch site but it was still quite close to the foothills. And as the flight progressed, it seemed that the balloon was going to drop it's payload in the mountains. It kept creeping further west! At burst, approximately 97,000 feet, the payload came almost straight down and when it got into thicker air finally picked up an easterly movement component taking it out of the mountains and landing a couple of miles east of the foothills. We were lucky on this one.

The landing site was approximately one and a half miles north west of Castle Rock, Colorado.

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