We set out to explore the various biomes that exist in the area around KSC starting with the easiest, the Shore, as that is where we reside
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we've got a delivery date for our new KerBalloons - five will be arriving next Tuesday & we hope to loft payloads later in the week
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catch up on new developments this past week in our Weekly Ops Summary - bit.ly/OpsSummary10-1…. have a great weekend everyone!
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still unloading the cargo ship that came in earlier today (photo from earlier too). Lots of supplies, and our new KerBalloon parts!
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Lead Scientist Cheranne is especially looking forward to getting out of the office to oversee the KerBalloon launches over the next few days
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balloons have been trucked over from the support village warehouse and now reside in the VAB for assembly to begin later today
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astronauts are off on an excursion aboard the MSV Tongjess to train in various water survival techniques, like using pants for flotation
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astronauts have returned. Everyone is wet but no one drowned. Tongjess will remain anchored offshore for KerBalloon launch/recovery this wk
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also finishing assembly today are two KerBalloon payloads for launch tmrw. Pretty much same design as our test flight, here's a closer look
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Flight Director Lanalye has the afternoon booked solid with drills for her team of controllers to get rdy for the KerBalloon & Mk2 launches
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2 KerBalloon probes are assembled and ready for flight tomorrow from the KSC (16:20 UTC) and the foredeck of the MSV Tongjess (22:20 UTC)
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crews will be getting ready over this night cycle to launch today's first KerBalloon probe at third sunrise. Inflation set for 16:20 UTC
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105kg balloon & its payload have been hauled out in front of the VAB, launch crew making sure all is in order while Lanalye & team preflight
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L-20min: all is prepped and rdy for launch. Waiting for more sunlight to see how the weather looks, but winds feel light & from the east
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L-5min: we have greens across the board, all stations are GO. Probe will come off ground power at L-2min. Inflation takes <1min
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launch was good, steady ascent at 5m/s. Launch crew photo shows the balloon rising up as the sun works its way down the face of the VAB
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telemetry data as usual only includes probe altitude and vertical speed - payload instruments record data only, do not transmit anything
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we have negative vertical speed, which means the balloon has burst @ maximum altitude. Hopefully both instruments are still in working order
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it may have taken almost an hour to go up, but already the command has been sent to deploy chute at around 1km, will open fully at 500m
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probe has no onboard computer so no immediate knowledge of chute deploy. Cmd is sent 5 times over a span of 10s to ensure it is received
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chute deployment did happen according to vertical speed change that was transmitted before signal loss. Recovery crews are already enroute
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we've successfully recovered & returned the first probe. The second is on its way to the MSV Tongjess so it can be on station by nightfall
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both sensors intact, show they are chock full of stored data - scientists are already downloading & analyzing things in the labs with glee
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another busy week here at KSC, let us recap & expand upon events. As always, everyone have a great weekend bit.ly/OpsSummary10-1…
