Beyond 62

The main difference with MSP-1 resides in the tracking system.

I got the technical radio operator license in order to get a HAM radio call sign. My call sign is KJ6MUD.
I was then able to use an APRS tracking system. I chose the Byonics Micro-Trak 8000 FA for its simplicity and light weight. The radio transmitter was connected to the Byonics GPS4 which does not have the 60k ft altitude limit.
Tracking the payload after the launch was very easy and accurate. It was set to send its position every minute.

Flight Path from launch to landing

MSP-2 at its highest altitude

All trackers worked very well, each showing the same data.

Flight Data

Despite being a lot heavier than MSP-1 (1kg),  MSP-2 (1.7Kg) reached an altitude of 29,133m (95,581 ft).

Landing site from Launch site: 87km (54 miles)

Flight duration: 2h10min

Average ascent rate: 343 m/min (1125ft/min)

Average descent rate: 687m/min (2254 ft/min)

Max fall rate : 206.4 km/h (128.3 mph) at 23,239.5 m (76,245 ft)

Descent rate at landing: 22.4km/h (14 mph)

Sensors

The computer system did not work as planned. The data from the external temperature sensor and photo resistor does not make any sense. It could be due to a bad mounting (no protection against the wind and the sun…).

The micro-controller had an operating temperature of -40 to +85 °C (-40 to +185 °F) but the internal temperature sensor stopped working at -20°C (-4°F). It had been thoroughly tested at low temperatures. It could be due to hardware failure (wire disconnection?).

The internal temperature sensor stopped working during the descent.

The camera sensors worked the whole time (Temperature in °C):

Battery Voltage (in mV):

This is actually quite surprising. I thought that 3600mV was the hard deck for Canon cameras. But I wrote an intervalometer  script in ubasic to disable the LCD and take pictures every 10 seconds. Disabling the LCD had a substantial impact on the battery life.

The camera battery lasted 4h20min and took 1314 pictures. The standard battery life was 260 pictures!

Pictures

The ascent:

Travis AFB

The San Francisco Bay Area from 95500 ft:

South Bay

San Francisco (You can guess the Golden Gate and the Bay Bridge)

North Bay

Sacramento Valley

Recovery

MSP-2 landed after a 2h10min flight. It landed in a wind farm, east of Livermore, CA.

Despite having the GPS coordinates, when typed into the Google maps application, it did not return the location entered but the location of the closest road, several hundred yards away. We couldn’t find it the first day, I had to come back the next day.

When it landed, the winds got so strong (40+mph), the payload got dragged about 200 yards uphill.

What is left from the balloon. It does not completely burst:

The lines are twisted all the way down and the GoPro Camera is gone:

Despite the scotch tape and the super-lock strips, most of the devices are now moving free.

Conclusion

• Tracking MSP-2 was easy and reliable. (Using APRS was definitely the way to go)
• Recovering it was hard; Next time do not rely on your mobile devices as it’s neither convenient nor precise
• Secure the critical devices better! (trackers, tracker batteries, Gopro…)
• The computer system and sensors need to be soldered all together
• You definitely need to be 2 to launch a high altitude balloon

My most sincere thanks to my friend TJ without whom I would not have been able to make it.

The external temperature sensor failed but I recorded the values from the camera temp (Celcius) and voltage sensors over time (minutes):

Temperatures from the Camera sensors

Voltage from the Camera sensor

The Canon camera and GoPro video-camera stopped working mid-flight because the batteries died. The voltage drops are due to the flash (while still on the ground). It should have been disabled.

The GoPro is still functioning very well. So are all the other trackers and computer systems.
The Canon Camera’s video mode and on/off button are not working anymore. It is still able to take pictures with normal quality.

The communication cutoff is due to the camera module being placed directly above the tracking module. With no satellite acquisition both devices stopped transmitting any position report (even if the phone had good GSM reception).

The bad mounting and the very thin shroud lines induced the payload spin.

All in-flight pictures:

[Show as slideshow]

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Great new hope this morning!

I received at 7:42am a manual Check/In message from the SPOT messenger sent with MSP-1.

The location reported is: 38.00134 , -120.80861. About 60 miles south east from our launch site.

The location really is in the middle of nowhere. It’s in the middle of an unworkable field 1.5 mile away from the nearest paved road. There is a dirt road about half a mile away. This area is protected all along by a fence and I have seen cows on Google street view archives which makes me think that it’s a private property used for livestock farming.

Fortunately there are only 3 farms around including one less than 2 miles away.

So my plan is:

1. Go directly to this farm tomorrow morning.
2. Ask if they found the payload
3. If not, whose field it is and ask its owner
4. If the owner has not found it, ask to check out the location
5. If not found at the location, ask at 3rd Farm
6. If the 3rd farm has not found it, post reward poster with contact information

I hope to have more news tomorrow evening.

Initially scheduled for Monday December 27th 2010, I met a lot of issues and had to report the launch of my first High Altitude Balloon called MSP-1 to Friday December 31st 2010.

I wish I  had great news but the truth is the launch failed. I don’t have all the details yet as I need to analyze the little data I have but here is my understanding of what happened:

The main factor of this failure is me.

Bad Timing

I filed a NOTAM to the FAA for a launch at 11am PST near  Davis, CA.
The launch site was 2 hour away from San Francisco. Once on-site we realized that the field I picked thanks to Google Map had a fence. We had to relocate quickly. We found another field that seemed appropriate.

To make a long story short, our 2 wheel drive truck got stuck in a fresh 10-inch deep mud. It took us 2 hours to get out of there. By the time, we got free and had found another spot, it was 12:30pm. We already were 1h30 late.

We started setting up the balloon and payload. The 1200g Kaymont balloon took about 45min to fill.
I enabled the SPOT GPS Messenger and the accutracking software on the GPS Phone.
I saw both signals from my Iphone and another smartphone. Once the balloon was almost ready, I closed the payload lid and added the camera module of top of it. We tapped the whole thing securely, attached it to the parachute and the latter to the balloon.

Checklists are made to avoid stupid mistakes

We were ready to launch at 2:37pm. It had taken 2 hours to set it up. With a minimum of 2h30 flight time and a sunset at 5pm, we were terribly late with no margin of error.

So I committed the unthinkable, I did not go through my preflight checklist.
We launched it as soon as it was ready. The lift had been correctly calculated, within a couple of seconds the balloon was 100ft high. The feeling of seeing your work flying up 15ft/s was absolutely awesome.

“We lost it”

I went back to check the tracking data and realized that both tracking systems had stopped emitting since 2pm-ish.
Before we even launched it! This could only mean one thing, the camera module and/or the tape added prevented the  devices to send any data.

Worse, in the hurry, I had forgotten to put my contact information on the box.
There was literally no way for us to track it and no easy solution for anyone who may found it to contact us. “We lost it” I announced only 5 minutes after the launch.

Experience is simply the name we give our mistakes

I lost a SPOT-1 Messenger, a Motorola i-296, a Parallax circuit board with temperature sensor and data logger, a Canon SD880IS +4Gb SD Card and a GoPro HD Hero + 32Gb SD Card. I failed my family and friends. I am immensely disappointed.

The positive note is that I learned a lot from this project.

-First and foremost, time and action steps are critical. You cannot compromise one for another. Everything has to be done on time and has to be checked. Going over my preflight checklist would have allowed me to identify all issues.

-The second and maybe the most important is to stop reading about everyone else’s projects and feedback but to experiment myself. I spent a ridiculous amount of time trying to understand how to build a joint between the helium tank regulator and the neck of the balloon. I should have just built it and tested it instead of thinking about it for so long.

From the top of my head:

-The launch requires at least 2 people. 3 would be better.

-The payload layout should be simple. In order to reduce the time of the launch sequence,  the shroud lines should be ready to be attached to the parachute.

-Zip ties are your best friend

-The payload experiments and devices should be tested in preflight conditions: ie in a moving, closed and tapped styrofoam box. I suspect my heavy duty scotch tape to contain aluminium blocking signal transmissions.

-If your lift is correct, a truck bed is good enough to launch the balloon. All you need is a clear 75-yard area around you (no fence, no phone or electrical lines)

-To make sure the lift is correct, do not use a hanging scale because it tends to shutdown during the inflation and then re-calibrates itself. Use a jug of water with the appropriate weight. When the lift equals the opposite force, the balloon is in equilibrium, you are good to go.

-People are interested and usually friendly about the launch, it’s okay to be near houses.

Next Steps

I will definitely try again. I need to save some money and will launch a simplified version in a couple of months.

I will detail the architecture of MSP-1 in the next few days.

Blue skies,

Marc