The new airbeam with it’s new end caps is just about done. This Saturday we’ll finish the new plain (no valves) cap and glue the last reinforcement on the fabric seams.
The team has complete two more new antenna stands. This gives enough to support four major antennas, two small antennas plus the two vertical antennas on the van’s mast. To the cheers of all we can retire the old PCV antenna stands.
Here’s hoping for a good 4 psi or more. It’s quite amazing to me that all we need is about 2 psi. Does that mean the rarefied air hitting the airship at mach 3 or 5 will not harm the wing that is being inflated at a mere 2 psi? Or, is this 2 psi the requirement for Ascender, a much slower vehicle, though it travels in denser air. Ah, the mysteries of upper atmospheric research…
Just in case you want to see the full size image of the endcap/bucket
http://jpaerospace.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/endcap_bucket_test.jpg