Cydonia Final Review Presentation 6 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.

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

PartMass (g) Structure and Insulation100.9 HOBO temperature logger35 Resistance Heater165 3 x 9v batteries45.7 x 3 2 x PC402 Mini CCD camera41 x 2 2 x MicroAVR video storage device 135 x 2 3 x 12v battery pack46 x 2 Total Mass 1138 PartApproximate Cost Foam CoreSupplied HOBO temperature loggerSupplied Resistance HeaterSupplied 5 9v batteriesSupplied Spare 9v batteries for testsSupplied Tube for center of SatelliteSupplied (2) Compact Flash CardsGreg’s personal card Liquid foam insulation$26.00 American Flag DecalSupplied (2) Mini CCD video camerasSupplied 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$10 Total Cost$36.00 Budgets Hp Camera and Timing circuit 131 CCD 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 recorders

Our HOBO Data

HOBO RH Data

Teamo Supremo HOBO Data

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.