JP Aerospace Blog

Last Saturday we conducted the first inflation of the Ascender 36 outer envelope. We only ran it to 80 percent volume just to make sure we sewed it right. Next comes the installation of the internal truss structures.

The new Ascender 36 Vee airship is coming to life. The last big job is joining the hull panels.

Floor panel with keel truss

The nose panel. For scale the fabric is just a two inch wide segment on the nose of the model.

Away 120′s solar panel.

Away 120 up top.

The balloon helium valve assembly.

On Sunday May 1st we send Away 120 to the edge of space. This was our 184th mission.

Away 120 carried PongSats, MiniCubes, a balloon valve experiment, a plasma rocket engine experiment and a new solar panel for the Ascender. We had high winds all during prep and launch making things a bit more exciting.  We recovered the vehicle three hours after landing. The team is all back safe and sound. We’re now diving into the data and sorting PongSats.

We conducted our third fully sealed life support system test Saturday. It went much smoother than before. We had updated the software, replaced the several power regulator with bigger ones, changed the scrubber blowers, added a sensor and completely replaced the circulation system. The test took about five hours with three hours in the sub and two and a half hours with the hatch sealed. We still have a lot more to improve but it’s really moving along.

Construction of our next airship, the Ascender 36 is in full swing. The team is building the inner helium lifting cells. The plastic for all the cells is cut and two are complete with the upper deck ports attached.