Mission: L01
Summary:
The first flight was going to be a complete test of all aspects of a regular mission.
However, the altitude switch that was developed and provided by HABET developed a problem that was not identified in testing. Once power was applied to the
electronics in the command module and a GPS lock was obtained, the relay that applies voltage to the Nichrome cut down
was activated.
There was a setting in the GPS receiver that appears to have been enabled that will cause the altitude
switch to activate the cut down relay as soon as GPS lock is obtained. The altitude switch appears to be
operating correctly and we have rescheduled the flight as L02.
Flight Information:
| Date: | August 19, 2003 |
| Launch Site: | Blooming Prairie High School :: Map :: Web Page |
| Launch Coordinates: | Latitude: 43.867 N, Longitude: 93.065 W, Altitude: 1290 feet |
Personel:
| Mission Manager: | Greg Nelson |
| Launch Director: | Kevin Sweeney |
| Flight Director: | Stephanie Soffa |
| Recovery Director: | Kevin Sweeney |
| Launch Team: | Dave Hultman, Chris Nelson, Chris Sanden, Matthew Stegmeir |
| Recovery Team: | Dave Hultman, Chris Nelson, Chris Sanden, Matthew Stegmeir |
Lessons learned:
- Before the balloon is filled with helium, make sure that the command module is performing correctly in as many aspects that can be tested.
- The launch procedure works very well and only a few minor changes were needed.
- All handling of the command module will now be done by the Flight/Engineering team instead of the launch team to speed up the launch procedure.
Pictures:
Pictures taken by Dave Hultman
Videos:
Video taken by Chris Nelson and edited by Kevin Sweeney
Two versions of the video are offered. The WMV file requires the Windows Media Player 9 codec, which
can be obtained from our web page for either WMP 7.0
or greater or for WMP 6.4. These codecs
can also be obtained directly from Microsoft's Web Site. The MPEG file is offered as an alternative
for those who cannot install the codec or are using an operating system other then Windows. The
quality of the MPEG is much lower in order to keep the file size small.
The video is 5:58 minutes in
length and shows some highlights of the L01 launch setup.
Web site maintained by Adam Thoreen
Last updated: August 26, 2004
Last updated: August 26, 2004