Team T.E.N Final Presentation Nate Bolt Greg Frank David Maier Luke Pederson David Stagg Matthew Stephenson 12/05/2006

The main experiment that we will conduct inside Ralph while he is flying is implementing a radiation badge into the payload. The purpose of this experiment is to investigate how the atmosphere deflects such radiation from the surface. We will be testing gamma, beta, and free/fast neutron radiation. Team T.E.N.’s second main experiment is out boom arm and pen cam. We have fitted Ralph with a boom arm that is retracted by a boom that has a pen cam mounted on the end of the boom. Ralph is also the host to a Hobo datalogger, the Elph camera, and a digital video camera.

There were many different designs implemented into Ralph. The original design of the satellite left too much room inside the satellite and led to too much weight. Ralph was redesigned to be as small as possible, yet still be able to contain everything. One of the more complex designs that was used on the satellite was the boom are and pen cam. The pen cam needed to be attached securely to the boom arm and also have enough insulation and protection to keep it safe and working. Because Ralph was going to be perforated with so many holes for all of our experiments, we decided to use aerogel to insulate our satellite. The design feature was implemented to keep our satellite above 0 degrees Celsius.

The original prediction for the boom arm was to have the servo lock itself in place during the launch and then deploy and retract during flight. When the BASIC stamp was activated, the servo locked itself in place and prepared for the launch. Due to the force of the launch, the arms of the servo head snapped off and was held on by the wires. Hanging Boom Arm

The cord ripped about halfway through the box. It was either the landing and dragging of satellite or the launch that cause a wire to be ripped out and turn off the pen cam. The actual boom arm broke right at the first seconds of the launch right at the servo’s control arm. The boom arm was then held on by the multiple wires that were soldered to the BASIC stamp and the pen cam.

Our initial prediction for the internal temperature of Ralph was that our Aerogel would be superior to the insulation that was provided. The satellite was sufficiently covered with Aerogel and space blanket. Initial predictions were that the internal temperature would never drop down below 0 degrees Celsius.

The lowest external temperature came about 45 minutes before the lowest eternal temperature. This is a point in the flight where the internal and external temperatures are equal. Thirteen minutes later the external temperature rose 34 degrees Celsius, yet the satellite only rose 17 degrees Celsuis.

Launch The satellite was least humid when the temperatures where the coldest Burst Our Elph camera did not experience any major icing or fogging of the lens. The pictures from the highest altitudes showed minor fogging. We did have an infrared lens and that may have helped a lot.

The original prediction for the video camera was that it would take thirty minute clips for the entire flight. The video camera was given a 2GB SD card and was wired up to a cell phone battery to ensure long life. The battery and the camera were attached to the inside of the Satellite via Velcro. This was to stop the camera from moving, but making it easily accessible and removable. Hole for the camera

The video camera did not function as planned. This is due to the short caused by the wired from the pen cam coming undone. There was however some footage of the flight. The camera did not move too much, but did need realigning to make sure that the edges of the holes could not be seen.

These are screenshots of the videos that the camera took during the flight. The video recorded the entire launch and a lot of the ascent, but none of the descent. The camera actually recorded the sound of the Elph camera taking pictures. Surprisingly, the sounds were very clear and easy to hear.

Team T.E.N. predicted that the radiation badge would pick up on gamma, beta, and free/fast neutron radiation. We predicted that the levels of radiation would increase as the altitude increased due to the lesser amounts of atmosphere. Hole for radiation badge

Awaiting the results from the company

In order to get Ralph ready for flight, the wire that became unconnected from the pen cam had to be soldered back on. Also, we initially thought that the servo had been stripped during flight, but further inspection showed the servo working fine and in fact it was the locking mechanism that is sporadically locking and unlocking the servo when he BASIC stamp is on, but it is still perfectly ready to launch. Another change was the boom arm. Since is had snapped the servo arm, we got a new one and reinforced it with a lot more epoxy at the weak spots and were it broke during flight. The final thing that had to be done for Ralph to fly was a battery check on some of our test batteries to see how much power they had left.

The payload should have no problems being stored for a long time. The batteries should not drain if they are plugged in, but for safe measure, the batteries can be kept inside Ralph, but unconnected until the flight. Ralph was also kept in a cooler to protect him for and damage. We feel that this would be a good idea in storage just to make sure that nothing happens to him.

To activate RALPH for another launch, one would simply need to reload the film, insert the nine volt batteries, and turn on the switches. There is a bit of sequencing to the switches though. The video camera must be turned on before the BASIC stamp. Then it does not matter what switch comes on first, but it would be a wise idea to do the heater first to allow for maximum heating before launch. Heater and BASIC stamp switches

The boom arm was not strong enough to handle the forces of the flight. It would have been a better idea to heavily reinforce the boom or to just have a fixed boom that would be much more stable. The Aerogel insulation worked well, our satellite just had too many holes in it for it to its job properly. It was a lot of work and a big hassle for the little bit that it did for us, so it was not a good idea to use it when you compare the amount of time we put into it compared to the little bit it helped. The BASIC stamp was a great idea, but because we had so many inputs for it to do, it because very complex and we spent a lot of hours working o it trying to get it right and creating a more simple program so that it would not run out of memory.

Aerogel was not as easy to work with as we originally thought it would be. We learned that we should have looked into the actual physical characteristics of the material instead of what it can do. Having a simple design is better. It is good to be ambitious and reach out, but we had a very hard time trying to get the satellite working and we spent countless hours trying to get the programming to work properly. The boom arm is not a good idea if it is not heavily reinforced. We could have done a lot better having done just the minimum requirements, but we had a great time trying very hard and shooting for the moon, yet coming up short. We feel that the way we went about building the satellite was a good idea. Try not to rely on someone else to get your results from your main experiment. Try to be able to get those on your own.

Get to know your team and know them well. It will really help when you are spending 19 straight hours working together and running into stressful situations Do not wait until the last weeks to start building Test EVERYTHING and order your supplies as early as possible Put the HOBO next to the heater Be cautious of a boom arm Try to have you craft ready to launch one week before turn in date Have lots of batteries and label each one of them as either “test” or “flight” Make friends with a EE, they are very helpful. Meet with your group often so there is not confusion. Get to know your group!!!