Above:
The team prepares the Balloon and Instrument package for launch. I am racing to get to site as fast as I can, why do we always do these things so far away?? . Above:
Plenty of on lookers check out the activities as the Balloon Launch teams makes finial preparations. The Balloon is taken out to the launch area and Thomas and Andy check the last details! Thomas releases BLT-28 on its mission APRS is sending Telemetry and after a few gasps a collective sigh of relief as BLT-28 sails away into the southern sky. BLT-28
The mission to answer the question... do beer and helium mix? The answer: Sure why not ! |
The Flight of BLT-28
February 11, 2012
We were there at the launch of the Orient Express!
The Balloon Team had been planning this launch for some time, the careful calculation for weight and balance were done by the guys and rechecked over and over. This one would go a LONG WAY! The Payload Master Thomas KT5TK had developed a very light package that was designed to output APRS data into the national system for tracking with a bonus of being able to send packets to the ISS when it would theoretically be within range. Ambitious you bet, but that is what the BLT guys are known for.
The Day had begun with me busy with home and work stuff as usual when I broke free with was a mad dash for the launch site in Katy TX. When I arrived I noted the Balloon was already being filled and was already standing on the south side of the grain elevators at the “No Label Brewery,” I rushed to find a parking spot and started around to the site when I ran into a few friends. Miss May from Daniel was there with her little friend Toto. We walked over to the site and said hello to the group Andy and the team and started taking a few pictures.
The Balloon was ready and it was 3:19 PM, the team moved the delicate assembly over from the structures and prepared to launch. Thomas held the package and at just the right time the package was released. Raising very slowly the balloon looked as though it was not going to make it, tossing back and forth it was causing the onlookers to gasp!
But sure enough, the hard work put into planning paid off and the system began to rise steadily. We watched it for a number of minutes as it rose into the high clouds and finally disappeared altogether.
The big question now was, “…is the thing working?” Yes it is! With steady APRS beacons the balloon package was sending telemetry. We continued to watch the data stream on the ground stations and the slow vertical progress of the vehicle. Another highly successful Balloon launch by the team we can’t wait to see the results.
Well arriving home I went to Google APRS and entered the Balloons call sign
“KT5TK-11” and there was the track heading out over the country side down near Friendswood TX, the altitude was 14513 ft and the track appeared to be about 85 degrees. It was flying and making progress. About six minutes later the system passed through 19419 ft and was moving up rapidly. In another seventeen minutes the package had risen to 34994 ft and was about to go over the Bay north of Galveston and east of San Leon. Finally after passing the South by South West of Cameron Louisiana border out in the Gulf of Mexico BLT-28 went silent. What happened?? It was at 45763 ft and was doing well. Perhaps the Balloon passed outside the range of the ground stations? Maybe the -49 degree Celsius climate was just too extreme for the device. Not sure but we can hope that if it’s still flying it will get picked up by a ground station in Florida or the keys.
Over all this was a super successful mission, while not traveling as far as was hoped the distance was quite respectable. Secondly the test of the under inflation of the balloon appeared to work well and was a proof of concept for potential future missions of this type. Third; the hardware flown was successful and provided excellent telemetry to the team, low cost transmitters GPS, APRS, TNC ect. It worked well and will continue to be a platform for future projects.
=================================================================
Right:
What a beautiful sky!
Friends talk as the balloon soars away into the sky.
Miss May and Toto the Shi tzu stop to say hello to us.
Tom at mission control checks the APRS telemetry
A reporter from a Katy TX news paper talks with Andy and the team to get the exclusive ‘scoop’ on the mission details
What a beautiful day and a great location for an event.
<script >
var _gaq = _gaq || [];
_gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-25190098-1']);
_gaq.push(['_trackPageview']);
(function() {
var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text/javascript'; ga.async = true;
ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https://ssl' : 'http://www') + '.google-analytics.com/ga.js';
var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s);
})();
</script>
The Day had begun with me busy with home and work stuff as usual when I broke free with was a mad dash for the launch site in Katy TX. When I arrived I noted the Balloon was already being filled and was already standing on the south side of the grain elevators at the “No Label Brewery,” I rushed to find a parking spot and started around to the site when I ran into a few friends. Miss May from Daniel was there with her little friend Toto. We walked over to the site and said hello to the group Andy and the team and started taking a few pictures.
The Balloon was ready and it was 3:19 PM, the team moved the delicate assembly over from the structures and prepared to launch. Thomas held the package and at just the right time the package was released. Raising very slowly the balloon looked as though it was not going to make it, tossing back and forth it was causing the onlookers to gasp!
But sure enough, the hard work put into planning paid off and the system began to rise steadily. We watched it for a number of minutes as it rose into the high clouds and finally disappeared altogether.
The big question now was, “…is the thing working?” Yes it is! With steady APRS beacons the balloon package was sending telemetry. We continued to watch the data stream on the ground stations and the slow vertical progress of the vehicle. Another highly successful Balloon launch by the team we can’t wait to see the results.
Well arriving home I went to Google APRS and entered the Balloons call sign
“KT5TK-11” and there was the track heading out over the country side down near Friendswood TX, the altitude was 14513 ft and the track appeared to be about 85 degrees. It was flying and making progress. About six minutes later the system passed through 19419 ft and was moving up rapidly. In another seventeen minutes the package had risen to 34994 ft and was about to go over the Bay north of Galveston and east of San Leon. Finally after passing the South by South West of Cameron Louisiana border out in the Gulf of Mexico BLT-28 went silent. What happened?? It was at 45763 ft and was doing well. Perhaps the Balloon passed outside the range of the ground stations? Maybe the -49 degree Celsius climate was just too extreme for the device. Not sure but we can hope that if it’s still flying it will get picked up by a ground station in Florida or the keys.
Over all this was a super successful mission, while not traveling as far as was hoped the distance was quite respectable. Secondly the test of the under inflation of the balloon appeared to work well and was a proof of concept for potential future missions of this type. Third; the hardware flown was successful and provided excellent telemetry to the team, low cost transmitters GPS, APRS, TNC ect. It worked well and will continue to be a platform for future projects.
=================================================================
Right:
What a beautiful sky!
Friends talk as the balloon soars away into the sky.
Miss May and Toto the Shi tzu stop to say hello to us.
Tom at mission control checks the APRS telemetry
A reporter from a Katy TX news paper talks with Andy and the team to get the exclusive ‘scoop’ on the mission details
What a beautiful day and a great location for an event.
<script >
var _gaq = _gaq || [];
_gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-25190098-1']);
_gaq.push(['_trackPageview']);
(function() {
var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text/javascript'; ga.async = true;
ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https://ssl' : 'http://www') + '.google-analytics.com/ga.js';
var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s);
})();
</script>