EOSS-287/288 MSU Intro to Space & CU-Bldr Gateway to Space - Recap

KCØRPS's picture
Submitted by KCØRPS on Fri, 04/19/2019 - 09:45

The Earth is Not FlatEOSS-287 with eight University of Colorado Gateway to Space payloads weighting 12.48 pounds, two GPS-equipped radio beacons, and a 12 ft. Rocketman parachute were launched on a 3000 gram balloon from the Wiggins, CO launch site (N40° 13.48', W104° 4.63') at an elevation of 4,564 feet at 6:30:00 AM MDT on Apr. 14, 2019. The launch site was located slightly north of the football field. The last packet received before balloon burst was at 8:21 AM at an altitude of 105,154 ft. after an ascent averaging 981 ft./min. The the maximum balloon speed of 89 mph was recorded at 8:31:30 AM at an altitude of 33,387 ft. on descent. The parachute and flight string touched down at 8:55 AM at N40° 13.48', W104° 4.63' and were recovered at an elevation of 4,958 ft. after a flight lasting 2 hr. and 26 min. and covering 58 miles. The horizontal touchdown speed was 14 mph and the vertical speed was 964 ft./min. The touchdown point was about 2.5 miles northeast of the town of Anton, CO (N40° 44.46', W103° 13.08'). The payload string and parachute were retrived after a 0.4 mile walk through a fallow field.

EOSS-288 with eight Metro State University Introduction to Space student payloads weighting 16.13 pounds, two GPS-equipped radio beacons, and a 12 ft. Rocketman parachute were launched on a 3000 gram balloon from the Wiggins, CO launch site (N40° 13.48', W104° 4.63') at an elevation of 4,564 feet at 6:54:10 AM MDT on Apr. 14, 2019. The launch site was located slightly north of the football field. The last packet received before balloon burst was at 8:18 AM at an altitude of 89,772 ft. after an ascent averaging 1014 ft./min. The the maximum balloon speed of 93 mph was recorded at 8:31:30 AM at an altitude of 34,164 ft. on descent. The parachute and flight string touched down at 8:55 AM at N39° 51.10', W103° 8.83' and were recovered at an elevation of 4,682 ft. after a flight lasting 2 hr. and 1 min. and covering 56 miles. The horizontal touchdown speed was 14 mph and the vertical speed was 1116 ft./min. The touchdown point was about 8.5 miles northeast of the town of Anton, CO (N40° 44.46', W103° 13.08'). As with EOSS-287 the payload string and parachute were retrieved after a 0.4 mile walk through a fallow field. EOSS member mileage link is https://goo.gl/forms/V7r4DKZyEpod5auj1

Recap Gallery: 
Original Announcement: 

We are GO for launch on Sunday. First balloon release is at 0630. Tracking and weather information are available at this link:

http://wxqa.com/eoss287.html

 

THE LAUNCH IS CHANGED TO SUNDAY FROM WIGGINS!! PLEASE PLAN ACCORDINGLY!!  Grid Reference, Grids have changed.

The Wiggins Launchsite is now two blocks further south at the new school, north end of the football field. Please see this link for directions.

This will allow better weather (less cloud cover) and an extra day for the roads to dry out.  Please see the updated prediction at the link below.  Directions to Wiggins launch site are here.  The preflight net will be shifted to Saturday evening.

Standby for new payload plans.

Two 3000g balloons or four 1500g balloon (depending on weather)

  • Metro State University -- Introduction to Space (two sections)
  • University of Colorado - Boulder -- Gateway to Space

Two balloons or four balloons depends upon the cloudcover on the day of launch. Two large balloons can be flown if the cloudcover is less than 5/10ths and four small balloons will be requried if the cloudcover is greater than 5/10ths.

These balloons will be launched from the EOSS launchsite in Wiggins, Colorado. This is based on the current flight path and weather predictions. When you go to this page, scroll down to a balloon on the correct launch date. The clicking on the GIF file for the correct launch site will show a map of the predicted flight path. The other files show the data from which this map is generated. These predictions update at approximately noon each day. If the prediction changes, it may be necessary to move the launch site to a different location to avoid entering DIA air space. Please watch his web page for updates.

Event Date: 
Sunday, April 14, 2019 - 00:00
Flight Coordinator: 
KCØRPS
Launch Site: 
Wiggins
Grid: 
Last Chance, X=40, Y=15; Test N40.00, W103.00, Ans: 71.3, 32.9
Flights: 

EOSS-287 Heavy

A 3000g balloon carrying Metro State University Intro to Space Student Payloads

If the cloudcover is greater than 5/10ths, the balloon will be split into two 1500g balloons:

Balloon Type: 
Totex 3000g Latex
Parachute: 
12' Rocketman with wireless release
Beacons: 
beacons
FrequencyCallsignTypeNotes
144.905 MHzKCØD-2Remote Release/DFsecondary beacon
144.340 MHzAEØSS-12APRS/Digi EOSSprimary beacon, Timeslotted on :10 and :40 seconds
Payload Plan: 
PDF icon EOSS-287 Heavy Payload Plan Rev C.pdf

EOSS-288 Heavy

A 3000g balloon carrying CU-Boulder Gateway to Space Student Payloads

In case of cloud cover greater than 5/10ths, the payloads will be split onto two 1500g balloons:

Balloon Type: 
Totex 3000g Latex
Parachute: 
12' Rocketman with wireless release
Beacons: 
beacons
FrequencyCallsignTypeNotes
145.645 MHzKCØD-1Remote Release/DFsecondary beacon
144.340 MHzAEØSS-13APRSprimary beacon, Timeslotted on :25 and :55 seconds
Payload Plan: 
PDF icon EOSS-288 Heavy Payload Plan Rev C.pdf
FrequencyList: 

EOSS Preflight Net @ 8 PM MDT preceding night:
        • 449.225 MHz (-5 MHz Offset, 141.3 Hz Tone )  RMHAM Repeater  
        • 146.940 MHz (-600 KHz Offset, 103.5 Hz Tone) RMRL Repeater if the RMHAM machine is down
        • 146.640 MHz (-600 KHz Offset, 100.0 Hz Tone) DRL Repeater will serve as a backup to the backup repeater 

Launch Site:
        • 446.050 MHz Simplex  
        (Note that some radios assume these are repeater frequencies and attempt to put a 5 MHz offset in the transmit frequency automatically)

Track & Recovery Operations:
        Repeaters:
        • 449.450 MHz (-5 MHz Offset, 103.5 Hz Tone) RMRL repeater (Assuming we are flying out of Windsor).
        • 448.450 MHz (-5 MHz Offset, 100.0 Hz Tone) PPFMA repeater (Assuming we are flying out of Deer Trail).

        Simplex Frequencies:
        • 446.100 MHz Balloon #1 Field Simplex 
        • 446.150 MHz Balloon #2 Field Simplex
        • 446.200 MHz Balloon #3 Field Simplex
        • 446.275 MHz Car to Car drive out Simplex
        (Note that some radios assume these are repeater frequencies and attempt to put a 5 MHz offset in the transmit frequency automatically)

        Legacy 2M Simplex Frequency (not generally used due to desense/interference issues with the 2M APRS packets)
        • 146.550 MHz Simplex

2M Direction Finding Frequencies:

  • 144.340
  • 144.360
  • 144.905
  • 145.535
  • 145.645
  • 145.710
  • 145.765

 

Tactical Calls: 
TacticalCall SignNameNotes
AlphaWAØGEH-9, KCØD-7Marty, Mark287: Alpha Team
BravoW9CN, N0JPSChris, JohnAlpha Backup
CharlieKE7KCKTom288: Trackers
DeltaKØSCCStephen288: Launch, Tracker
Echo
FoxtrotN6BA-6Jeff287: Tracker, SDR Whiz
Ground StationKB0TVJ, N2XGLRuss, Randy, JeffGround Station
GolfKB0UBZ, KA0ZFIBen, Ann287: Sunday Only
HotelN0NDM, N0LPLarry, NickLaunch, Tracker, Saturday Only
IndiaK0JWB, K0NKKJohn, Nancy287: Trackers
JulietKC0RPS, W0GVJim, Gerry288: FC, Launch, Trackers
TangoKC0LJohnFrom Texas, Predictions
XrayKE0OKAAustinCU Gateway to Space
TR Breakfast: 
Optional breakfast can be at the High Plains Diner in Bennet, 100 E. Bennet Ave. It opens at 6:00. Leave at 6:45 Caution the flights start launching at 6:30 and this diner is 75 miles from the prediction. Prediction: x=71.3, Y=32.9 Beware of the mud...