CydoniaFinal Review Presentation6 December 2007

Greg Rancourt, Sarah Flinn, Dominic Boiko, Kevin Stuth, Derek Houtz, Max LaFon

Objectives Provide time lapse video of BalloonSat flight Track dark current levels of CCD camera Provide sample red filtered images Collect temperature and humidity data Return BalloonSat in working condition for additional missions

Expected Conclusions Telescope platform can operate continuously,

24 hours a day Angular resolutions are comparable to HST Sky brightness interference is negligible Energy efficiency in controlling dark current

To provide research support for a low Earth orbit telescope platform by showing the emergence of stars as a BalloonSat ascends to 100,000 feet and provide dark current values to provide information about energy use on the platform.

To provide research support for a low Earth orbit telescope platform by showing the emergence of stars as a BalloonSat ascends to 100,000 feet and provide dark current values to provide information about energy use on the platform.

RFP Compliance

Flew the HOBO, HP Camera, and our own experiment.

Under a $200 budget.Met flight string regulations.

Differences from start to finish:

Design Structure Insulation

▪ Pour Foam

CCD Cameras▪ 1 to 2

Mission Optical CCD to BW

CCD

Part Mass (g)

Structure and Insulation 100.9HOBO temperature logger 35Resistance Heater 1653 x 9v batteries 45.7 x

32 x PC402 Mini CCD camera 41 x 22 x MicroAVR video storage device

135 x 2

3 x 12v battery pack 46 x 2

Total Mass 1138

Part Approximate CostFoam Core SuppliedHOBO temperature logger SuppliedResistance Heater Supplied5 9v batteries SuppliedSpare 9v batteries for tests SuppliedTube for center of Satellite Supplied(2) Compact Flash Cards Greg’s personal

cardLiquid foam insulation $26.00American Flag Decal Supplied(2) Mini CCD video cameras Supplied through

Eliot Young Southwest Research Institute's Space Studies Department

(2) Analog video to Compact Flash digital storage devices

Also Supplied through Eliot Young

Wires and connections $10Total Cost $36.00

Budgets

Hp Camera and Timing circuit 131Hp Camera and Timing circuit 131CCD Camera Cables 40 x 2CCD Camera Cables 40 x 2

HP Camera Analysis

Switch turned on before launch

Battery drained

One photo taken

CCD Failure Analysis

Possible causes: Wires becoming disconnected

▪ Solution: tape all connections securely Bad batteries

▪ Solution: new batteries before flight

Video taken after flight, while testing the recordersVideo taken after flight, while testing the recorders

Our HOBO Data

HOBO Temperature Data

0102030405060708090

100

00:00.0 12:00.0 24:00.0 36:00.0 48:00.0 00:00.0 12:00.0 24:00.0 36:00.0

Time

Tem

per

atu

re

HOBO RH Data

RH Data

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

00:00.0 12:00.0 24:00.0 36:00.0 48:00.0 00:00.0 12:00.0 24:00.0 36:00.0

Time

RH

%

Teamo Supremo HOBO Data

-80

-60

-40

-20

0

20

40

60

6:00:00 AM 7:12:00 AM 8:24:00 AM 9:36:00 AM 10:48:00 AM 12:00:00 PM 1:12:00 PM

Temperature (*C) c:1

Temperature (*C) c:*4

Dark Current Results

Conclusions

Dark current is not a factor when cooling the CCD at low-Earth orbit.

Lessons Learned

Combine tests: functional, cold, and movement

How to work well in teams

Ready to Fly, again

Problems solved: New batteries installed Connections secured Bigger window cut for recorder Satellite accessible from top

Storage: Normal conditions

Flight Activation: Turn on switches from inside and outside 30

minutes prior to launch Tape down the top of the BalloonSat with

aluminum tape

Message to Next Semester Don’t procrastinate: Create a detailed schedule and follow it

closely. This will help you greatly because as the launch date approaches time passes quickly and any procrastination will lead to last minute problems. By following the schedule any problems encountered will have plenty of time to be resolved. In addition, allow an ample amount of time for testing, as testing will be the most time consuming part of the project. Test, test, test: Testing is important, don’t think otherwise. While the structural is fairly simple and straightforward it is easy to slack off on the functional testing. It is imperative to simulate ascent and descent conditions while testing your components. While a camera may work while sitting on the ground, add in movement and it may stop working. It is necessary to determine these problems early, so that you can fix them before launch. The most important thing is to communicate well. Two weeks until our launch our team started communicating, had we done so earlier it would have been a much better project. Do not be afraid to speak up if you feel that something in your project is not going to work. Also, make sure to do the Rocket Boys assignment early and on time, and read the assignment before starting the book.