Recap of EOSS-46

Preliminary Send me Info

Delayed 1 day due to wx considerations

LAUNCH DATE: January 14, 2001
LAUNCH TIME: 16:10 UTC - 09:10 MST
LAUNCH SITE: Windsor, Colorado, Gene Fatton’s Ranch
LAUNCH SITE COORDINATES:

40.47365° N Latitude
104.96243° W Longitude

Black Track = Actual GPS/APRS track
Red Track = Preflight prediction

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

Burst at 92,748 ft.

Predicted Landing Site
-----------------------
  Landing Point: 40.4251° lat.  -104.3689° long.
           Grid: X=36.4 Y=36.9
       Altitude: 5000 feet
    Flight Time: 118 Minutes
        Bearing: 96.0° True
          Range: 31.4 Mi.

Actual Landing Site
-----------------------
  Landing Point: 40.4856° lat.  -104.1717° long.
           Grid: X=46.7 Y=41.1
        Bearing: 88.7° True
          Range: 41.6 Mi.

Difference from Predicted to Actual Landing Site
--------------------------------------------------
        Bearing: 68.0° True
          Range: 11.2 Mi.

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

PRIMARY EXPERIMENT(S):

Adobe Acrobat PDF of the Payload Train

This is the fourth of many planned EOSS flights for the “Mars Micro Balloon Probe” which will place a series of balloons in the Martian atmosphere. The objective of this flight are 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 will attempt to inflate balloons using various compounds. This will also permit a test of the deployment canisters required on Mars.

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. Here's some data on the results.

Photo by KC0HVF's XYL

3000g balloon on left (only partially filled), the two 600g grapes at "full inflation" to the right.

CROSS BAND REPEATER: The RMRL cross-band repeater was deployed. QSL cards will be issued for successful contacts through the repeater (see QSLing below for details).

Below is the actual footprint at maximum altitude for EOSS-46! 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 (ok, maybe a 5/8th wave mag mount). This footprint is calculated for the burst altitude of 92,748 feet. The black line represents the longest QSO distance for this flight between Jim, N7DMO in Riverton, WY and Dale, N0KQX in Garden City KS. Should they file their QSO with the Amateur High Altitude Ballooning Records page, they will hold the distance record for a two way contact through a balloon born repeater. As you can see, with a little planning you could easily surpass this on our next flight!

For operation guidelines for future flights see the cross band repeater page.