DREAMS19_20+Double+Mission

DREAMS 19/20: Target Launch Date June 21, 2014
Both flights complete and recovered.

[|PICTURES]

SCIENCE DATA

These are some of the results I have so far from analysis of the data. Please note I'm still working on it! -Jinny

FLIGHT CRITICAL INFORMATION Two balloon payload systems (Orange and Blue) will be launched 35 minutes apart and can be tracked via amateur radio and commercial SPOT trackers. Click the links below for LIVE tracking (starting 6/21 at ~8am). Orange --> [|W4CHS-11] Blue --> [|W4CHS-12] [|SPOT-1 & SPOT-2 Public Page] Just [|Orange SPOT-1] Just [|Blue SPOT-2]

Both radios transmit on standard APRS 144.390MHz and receive on 145.590MHz (for messaging and digipeating) Columbus Groups: Meet at 5:30am McDonald's on Macon Rd next to I-185 Arrive at launch location --> First Baptist Haynesville 2953 Hwy 341 South Hawkinsville, GA 31036 Lat/Long: 32.3848,-83.6216 less than 2 hours from Atlanta, and Columbus

//Double Launch to Double the Science//
//Students from the Columbus Space Program are designing and building the science payloads to fly on a double mission to the edge of space. These students are work as the support engineering system for this science effort from design to integration. Help comes in the form of mentors from the Columbus Amateur Radio Club and professional mentors from CharBroil.//



Weather/Wind Predictions -- Look for latest predictions here and also final release location (by 6/20 Friday 8pm)
Saturday, June 21, 0800 near Vienna, GA -- //clear (current prediction at [|wunderland])// Distance from Launch to Landing: //19 miles *picture not updated, but predicts show southwest path, launch location may need to head toward Hawkinsville if the predicts stay the same// //[|Surface winds visualized]// //[|Jet stream visualized]// Updated: //June 16// //Sectional Chart of Flight Area: Yellow Triangle shows general flight space (from [|SkyVector])//

[|Cambridge Launch Predictions] Use 29000m, 8.1m ascent, 6.1m descent Start with 32.1,-83.9
possible launch site (preliminary): First Baptist Haynesville 2953 Hwy 341 South Hawkinsville, GA 31036

Cherry Hill Apartments, 616 Cherry Street Unadilla, GA 31091 32.2570,-83.7333

[|Pre-Launch Images]

 * [[image:dreams2space/IMG_1079.JPG width="400" height="297"]] || [[image:dreams2space/IMG_1107.JPG width="233" height="305"]] ||
 * [[image:dreams2space/IMG_1078.JPG width="400" height="297"]] ||  ||

Structure
The Secondary payload box is being re-designed for both balloon flight systems ORANGE and BLUE. The sides are made of 1/16" thick Aluminum machined from student designs with the help of CharBroil! An image of the side support structures and the overall boxes is shown below.
 * [[image:dreams2space/SecondarySide.jpg width="400" height="146"]] || [[image:dreams2space/DREAMS box new.jpg width="400" height="230"]] ||

Astrobiological experiment procedures: 1. Preflight:

Prelaunch: Prepare 16 nutrient agar plates according to directions included with agar. (Dehydrated media) wear gloves Attach Velcro to the bottom of agar plates before pouring agar into the plates Allow to cool Place an arrays of 2x2 agar pates on the top of each box. Label the cover and bottom of the agar plates with either "preflight" "post flight" control" or "flight". Seal the plates tightly with tape. Wearing gloves, attach the agar plates to the flight boxes with VelcrO. 20 minutes prior to launch, open the plates labeled "preflight". Make an effort to prevent them from being contaminated by team members. At the last possible moment, seal the preflight plates, and open the plates labeled " flight". Post flight and control remain closed. After the balloon is located on the ground, seal the flight plates, and open the plates labeled "post flight". If possible, allow to sit for 20 minutes, making efforts to avoid excessive contamination by team members.

After the postflight plate is sealed, remove all agar plates from the flight boxes. Place them in a refrigerator if possible at 4 c to store Incubate at 37 c overnight. Check the next day for growth. Incubate for up to 48 hours. After visible bacterial colonies develop, dip a sterile inoculating loop into a colony, and spread the bacteria, adding a drop of clean water as needed, to form a thin film over a clean ( if not sterile) microscope slide. The bacteria needs to be relatively uniformly distributed over the slide. Run the slide over a heat source to "heat fix" the bacteria on the slide. If using a Bunsen burner, hold the slide about several inches over the flame so that the slide is warm to the touch. Repeat this three times. Add iodine crystal violet dropwise to the slide ( flood the slide) so that the bacteria on the slide is completely covered. Let stand for 30 seconds, then rinse with water. Wash the stain off with water. Flood the slide with gram iodide, and let stand for 30 seconds. Rinse. Add ethanol. Let stand for 5 seconds before rinsing with water. Flood the slide with saffronin. Let stand for about thirty seconds. Rinse with ethanol. Blot dry with bibulous paper (if the paper is available). Place under microscope to identify whether or not the bacteria are gram positive or negative. Focus at 10x magnification, view details at 40x magnification. For more acute detail, obtain mineral oil, place a drop on the slide underneath the lens, and change the lens from 40x to 100x so that the lens is immersed. Perform further biochemical tests based on identity of bacteria.

IPTs
Science:

J

[|RH sensor spec sheet] Rt = (5-V)/V * 10k [|Flow Sensor, $100 each Digikey]

Payload for D19 will include a standard sensor suite as well as specific payloads for 2 areas of research. The standard sensors include GPS (1Hz), radiation, pressure, temperature, RH, UV, IR, and visible sensors.

A new 3 wavelength laser <span style="background: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; display: inline-block !important; float: none !important; height: auto !important; margin: 0px; min-height: 0px !important; min-width: 0px !important; padding-bottom: 0px !important; padding-left: 0px !important; padding-right: 0px !important; padding-top: 0px !important; text-decoration: underline !important; vertical-align: baseline !important; width: auto !important;"> particle detector is being developed for flight to measure dust and microorganisms throughout the flight profile. (Farita Tasnim and Jinny Van Doorn)

Research Questions: Next Mission:
 * Can space weather--specifically solar flares--be documented/sensed with fluctuations in geiger-detected radiation (instead of x-ray) and magnetic field? http://spaceweather.com/
 * Can minor anomalies and variation in the magnetic field be detected at various altitudes with a magnetometer? http://spaceflight.esa.int/pac-symposium_archives/files/papers/s7_8tsvetk.pdf
 * What are the unique profiles of established atmospheric strata, as can characterized by temperature, humidity, pressure, radiation, O2, CO2, UV, IR, and visible light levels? Have the profiles diverged from those documented by other researchers? If so, how and why?
 * Has atmospheric CO2 increased? Is there evidence of anomolous lower stratospheric levels of CO2?
 * Acceleration and physical coordinates: how do these relate in an atmospheric setting?
 * Are areas of localized increase in UV corroborated with a variations in O2 levels? (hv=UV radiation) O2 + ℎν → 2O, O + O2 → O3 , O3 + ℎν(240-310 nm) → O2 + O (rough approximation, due to UV and O2 sensors being on separate payloads)
 * Has there been variation in the altitude of the tropopause at approx 33 N (tropopause height in the past around 8 km at this latitude) http://www-das.uwyo.edu/~geerts/cwx/notes/chap01/tropo.html
 * Is there any correlation between O2, CO2, UV, visible light, radiation, IR, altitude, biotic material, PM, temperature, humidity, and ice-cloud levels, and how do these trends relate to observable phenomena? (compare to past literature)
 * Does the altitude coordinate supplied by GPS data correspond roughly with detected pressure and acceleration?
 * Adjust for temperature in relative humidity readings, and humidity in CO2 readings. Will be approx. adjustment for T-sensors and CO2 (on different payloads)
 * Air airborne microbes a source of ice-cloud nucleation?
 * Do microbial cells remain viable after exposure to stratospheric conditions?
 * Can effusion rate be derived from gas pressure and Co2/O2 readings, in x amount of time, what is the diffusion/effusion rate from the payload?
 * Can UV and cosmic background radiation be accounted or (in PM detection) with low-pass filter, Geiger circuit integration?
 * Do culturable/viable bacteria exist in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere, particularly past the tropopause? Do these viable microbes exhibit the carbonized cell wall, oligotropism, clumping behavior, and fimbrae observed in stratospheric bacteria by Wainright et al (2006)?
 * Can sheets of lexan polycarbonate be used to detect muon activity?
 * Due to increased fidelity of t-sensor (using op-amps and increased sampling rates), can minute various in temperature be efficiently detected?


 * The images below illustrate the W-shaped curve observable in the temperature/altitude plot, in relation to atmospheric strata and particulate/radiative penetrance, distribution. <span style="background-attachment: scroll !important; background-clip: initial; background-image: none !important; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat !important; background-size: initial; border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; display: inline-block !important; float: none !important; height: auto !important; margin: 0px; min-height: 0px !important; min-width: 0px !important; padding-bottom: 0px !important; padding-left: 0px !important; padding-right: 0px !important; padding-top: 0px !important; text-decoration: underline !important; vertical-align: baseline !important; width: auto !important;">[[image:http://cdncache-a.akamaihd.net/items/it/img/arrow-10x10.png height="10"]] info at http://www.atoptics.co.uk/highsky/htrop.htm

Research: [|Temperature Lidar Measurements up to 105km] [|Wind and Temperatures to 40km] [|Air Turbulence Probability based on Balloon temperature and ascent rate]

Engineering: TRACKING --> APRS Sky, APRS Ground, SPOT, Beacon EXPERIMENTS --> UV/Visible/IR, (Pressure, RH, Temp), Temp x 12, Radiation, Particle detection, solar flare, CAMERAS --> GoPro, Pentax 1, Pentax 2 STRUCTURE --> Primary, Secondary, Rigging MEDIA --> Pre-Launch, (Launch, Chase, Recovery), Post : stills, video, video production


 * Team **

Schedule
Vernier Experiments: CO2 sensor consistently reading 23-36 ppm (6 trials), far below expected 400 ppm. Calibration needed. O2, humidity, and gas <span style="background: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; display: inline-block !important; float: none !important; height: auto !important; margin: 0px; min-height: 0px !important; min-width: 0px !important; padding-bottom: 0px !important; padding-left: 0px !important; padding-right: 0px !important; padding-top: 0px !important; text-decoration: underline !important; vertical-align: baseline !important; width: auto !important;"> appear to be in working order, will need further validation.

AutoCAD files for sides NEW assembly (17 April 2014) NEW - under .25 lbs each, 6" tall too heavy & tall heavy/tall sheet metal version (16 April 2014) 