Recap of EOSS-47

EOSS-47

Links to related info at the bottom of the page!

LAUNCH DATE: February 25th, 2001 (24 hrdelayed from 24/Feb/01 due to WX)
LAUNCH TIME: 16:03:30 UTC - 09:03:30 MST
LAUNCH SITE: Windsor, Colorado, Gene Fatton�s Ranch
LAUNCH SITE COORDINATES:

  • 40.4744 Degrees N. Latitude
  • -104.9628 Degrees W. Longitude

Black Line = Actual Track
Red Line = Prediction after burst
Blue and Red Dots = Pre-flight prediction

Actual Track captured from APRS-Plus
Predicted track produced with Balloon Track
Mapping Software - Street Atlas V 8.0
The Street Atlas 8.0 Map Doc File

The printout below includes the pre-flight prediction and the calculated error between actual and predicted touchdown sites.

Balloon Track for Windows                                Version 1.6.8
__________________________________________________________________________

Flight Recap

Sunday, February 25, 2001          EOSS-47         KDNR_01_02_25_1200Z.dat
12:19:31 PM                        Windsor                 eoss47_plan.ini
__________________________________________________________________________

Winds DataFile
-----------------------
Station: KDNR
Date: 1200Z 25 FEB 01
DataFile Status: Errors in Source File
Intact Records: 34
Corrupt Records: 1

Grid Placement Data
-----------------------
Reference Site: Sterling
Latitude: 40.6214� lat.
Longitude: -103.1727� long.
X_Offset: 77.00
Y_Offset: 44.50
Grid Origin
Latitude: 39.9769� lat.
Longitude: -104.6418� long.

Launch Site - Windsor
-----------------------
Launch Point: 40.4744� lat.   -104.9628� long.
Grid: X=-16.9 Y=34.4
Ascent Rate: 1028 feet per minute
Descent Rate: 900 feet per minute
Altitude: 5280 feet

VOR Station - Akron
-----------------------
Latitude: 40.1556� lat.
Longitude: -103.1797� long.
Magnetic Offset: -13.0� from True Degrees

Predicted Landing Site
-----------------------
Landing Point: 40.7938� lat.  -103.5935� long.
Grid: X=54.8 Y=56.4
Altitude: 4468 feet
Flight Time: 137 Minutes
Bearing: 72.5� True
Range: 75.1 Mi.

Actual Landing Site
-----------------------
Landing Point: 40.7945� lat.  -103.8464� long.
Grid: X=41.6 Y=56.4
Bearing: 68.9� True
Range: 62.5 Mi.

Difference from Predicted to Actual Landing Site
--------------------------------------------------
Bearing: 270.3� True
Range: 13.2 Mi.

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

PRIMARY EXPERIMENT(S):

  • This was the fifth of many planned EOSS flights for the �Mars Micro Balloon
    Probe� which will place a series of balloons in the Martian atmosphere.  The
    objectives of this flight were 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 attempted
    to inflate balloons using various compounds. 
  • Additionally, two 600 gram �Grape� drag balloons were flown to help stabilize
    the payload on decent while deploying the micro balloon.  This experimental
    drag balloon concept will be deployed on Mars missions if successful.
  • See this PDF file for the Payload Train Configuration

CROSS BAND REPEATER: The RMRL cross-band repeater was deployed.  QSL cards will be issued for successful contacts through the repeater. Look at this footprint! Were you inside it? If so, you could have contacted anyone else within the footprint with nothing more than a dual band HT with a rubber duck antenna, although it's tough to get through. An excellent station need only be a mobile radio with a mag mount antenna or similar configuration, using 10 or more watts output.

The payload was cut down a little above 93,811 feet.  For operation guidelines on future flights see the cross band repeater page.

footprint at 93,811 ft. ASL
Mapping Software - Street Atlas V 8.0

APRS:

  • The packet callsign was:  W�WYX

NET AND OPERATION FREQUENCIES:

HF Net:

  • 7.235 MHz Bruce, NA�BR net control started @15:00 UTC

Preflight Foxhunter Net:  

  • 147.225 MHz Colorado Repeater Association, was held at 8:00PM the preceding night

Launch Site: 

  • Simplex 146.550 MHz

Beacon:        

  • 144.340 MHz FM (350 milliwatts output).  
    • CW beacon and cut down system

Cross-Band Repeater:

  • Net Control K�YG, Mark
  • Input 445.975 MHz
  • Output 147.555 MHz

APRS Output: 

  • 147.555 MHz, Output of Crossband Repeater
  • 147.450 MHz, Pioneer APRS

ATV:

  • 426.250 MHz.

Tracking Teams:

  • 449.450 MHz Rocky Mountain Radio League (RMRL)
  • 146.58 MHz Simplex Field Frequency
  • Click on Tracking Teams for more info
  • Tracking Grid Placement Coordinates
LocationX (East)Y (North)
Barnsville935
Buckingham3544
Wiggins3017.5
East of Sterling, Intersection of US 6 and I-767744.5
Launch Point(neg) -1735

Cross Band Check In Log

Doesn't look like any records were set this time out. But, a good turn out on the repeater none the less.

Here's Mark's [K�YG] Net Control log file

Call Name  Location/Comments
K�ANI Larry LAUNCH GROUND STA
K�DLB DAVE  GREELEY
K�YG  MARK  CROSSBAND NET CONTROL
K�KPB Kevin BERTHOD
WD�E  Jim AURORA
N�TZL STAN  HENDERSON
KC�IID  CRAIG BERTHOD
N7JJ  GEORGE  HARRIMAN
KT�L  Richard FT COLLINS
KE�VH JACK  MOBILE TWARD NEBRASKA
N�KKZ RICK  10 Mi. East of Parker,CO
NA�BR BRUCE HF NET CONTROL
N�MYY JERRY Aurora
N�LP  Nick  LAUNCH GROUND STA
W�AVV RANDY
N�IMW Allen CHEYENNE
KC�HTH  DAVID LONGMONT
N�XDW JEFF  WRAY
KC5LXC  PHIL  COLO SPRINGS
K�OJ  OJ
K�HBZ WES WOODLAND PK
KB�MQQ  LLOYD
KB�YRZ  Chris DF Team
KB�UBZ  Ben DF Team
W9BNO RICH  WINDSOR
W�EV  Clarence  DENVER
KI�DZ MARY FRANCES  DF Team
KC�HUY  RICK  AURORA
N6LEE JAMES LOVELAND
KC�GPF  Jon GREEN MOUNTAIN
KB�VBZ  RICK  AURORA
K�TOR JIM WINDSOR
KE�VM JACK
KB�WWA  DICK  W OF LOVELAND
KC�ERX  JOE WHEATRIDGE
K�LMD RON NEBRASKA
K�YUK MERLE LAUNCH SITE
KB�LP Dave  LAUNCH SITE
N�XDW Jeff  MOBILE NEBRASKA
KB8RWI  MIKE  RAWLINS WY
KB5UIH  Jordan

Some names were pulled from the Callsign Database

WB3JZV Triangulation Fixes During Flight

I created a separate page for this data here.

News from DSES

Hi everyone;

I have to agree with Pete. Although not everything went real smoothly those items were not critical to the flight.

The video was at times not real good but after reviewing the tape and talking with the EOSS people I've come to the conclusion that we did an excellent job.

Both the camera and the ATV transmitter were having problems as the EOSS saw from the launch site at the time of launch. Of course it was hard for us to discern where the problems were but in retrospect, it was with the balloon.

Although the VCR would video mute, that was only on the video out. The VCR tape never did video mute. It did have problems with the signal though but again, that was outside of our control.

With a little imagination one can see a ground handler with a payload during launch. This means we received signal over the horizon. We went from launch to full acquisition of the video over a period of maybe 3 seconds. This relates to about 50 feet from the ground and the horizon is over 200 feet. We also tracked to LOS at less than 1000 feet from the ground and then loss was due to the video turning off, not really our loss of signal. The tracking and recovery teams also called in LOS at that same time.

We did suffer from local video noise while listening to the 146.555 cross band repeater that was not present when we listened to the 449.450 tracking and recovery net. Unfortunately that was not apparent during the flight so about 50% of the video has that effect.

From an RF standpoint, we did an excellent job.

The GPS telemetry data provided bearings that I believe were 100% right on. Also, we could have tracked on the predicted path using the same look-up software that we would for a LEO (low earth satellite). We over-reacted often but the data was always right.

The mechanical aspects of the dish work very well indeed and I feel that with some effort we can be up and running with full deep space, LEO and terrestrial automatic capabilities. We'll still need to run from predictions but for most targets, that we can provide.

I think we should set a goal now to automatically track the EOSS-48 in late March either from a look-up table or from live telemetry.

Slate

Pictures

I've posted several pictures collected at the March in person meeting.

Charts

I've made some simple charts of some of the data from the flight. Data analysis is a pleasure with the increased accuracy provided by the included time stamp in the APRS packet.

Files

  • Street Atlas Version 8 Map file
  • APRS-Plus SA Log file
  • Logs Updated Sunday Feb. 25, 2001 22:30 MST (26/Feb/01 05:30 UTC)
    First Packet: W0WYX>APRS:@160701h4028.41N/10457.82WO321/006/A=005972
     Last Packet: W0WYX>APRS:@180402h4047.56N/10350.76WO005/019/A=005733
    • Text log of the packets received from W0WYX
    • Comma Delimited Spread Sheet of Log
      • Note, the time in this spreadsheet is a fraction of a day in utc. Excel can turn this directly into standard time (format cells).