JP Aerospace Blog

Author: Administrator

  • Target Store Selling Airship to Orbit Book

    I for one am pretty jazzed.

    http://www.target.com/Floating-Space-Opportunities-Untapped-Apogee/dp/1894959736

  • Experimental linking post

    Technorati Profile

  • More Balloon Launched Rockets

    I’ve have these three ancient CDs of pictures in the back of my desk literally from about a decade ago. They’ve been sitting because they’re photo CDs in a weird old Kodak format that nothing can read anymore. Today I tracked down the right driver on the web and extracted the pics. Some I had copies of, but most hadn’t been seen in a long time.

    I’ve pulled together a few of the “Rockoon”, (balloon launch rocket) flights. These are our early experiment. Most of these pictures show the various launch boxes, the container that holds and launched the rocket. Next year we’ll be lofting our fourteenth generation rocket designed for balloon launch.

    first_JPA_rockoon.jpg               First JPA Rockoon

    The first rocket was only 14 inches long.

    Second JPA Rockoon                     Number 2 failure on rocket ignition.

    This was a five foot rocket. It started out well, but had a problem at ignition.

    Third JPA Rockoon                     Number 3 running

    Rockoon three’s launch box. Three Running.

    Fifth JPA Rockoon                     Rockoon 5 running

    Rockoon five’s launch box. Five heading for the stars.

    Rocket 6 launch box                       Number 6

    Rockoon 6 launch box and under balloons.

    Number 7

    Number seven be carried out to the balloons.

    For more pics and info see our Rockoon Page.

  • Results

    We got nearly the whole list done on Saturday. The drogue parachute box didn’t get started and the some soldering still needs to be done on the controller daughter board. It was a good day.

    We also started reviewing the missions for next year.

    Ed and Paul working on the parachute cannon.                             Bob and Ross pulling the prop.

    Ed and Paul mount the parachute cannon on the Tandem. Bob and Ross pulling a prop off the starboard motor.

    Bob in mission control.                             Kevin debugging

    Bob running tests at mission control. Kevin either debugging or looking up specs.

  • Tasks for Today

    -Mount parachute cannon on Tandem (needs to be removable).
    -Cut covers for PongSat participant’s DVDs.
    -Put protection circuits on all Tandem main controller daughter board stamp IO pins.
    -Sew pyro container insulation wraps.
    -Put switch mount plate on camera controller.
    -Drill pin pinhole in propeller thorough prop hub and shaft.
    -Glue magnets on propeller shafts.
    -Mount sensor daughter board boxes.
    -Trim bolts on pyro containers.
    -Make drogue parachute deployment box.

  • Balloon Test Video

    Here’s the video from the park test of the new 4000g balloon and launch bag. I sped up the time to show the whole day in just over two minutes.
    [wp_youtube]9xjAwF6Fl6A[/wp_youtube]

  • New Book at Apogee

    Check out what coming out this spring at Apogee Books!

  • MicroTandem Pic

    Here’s a new pic of MicroTandem:

    MicroTandem from Below

  • Blog Software

    I’m trying out WordPress for this blog. I’m hoping it will making managing the blog easer. I don’t know WordPress very well so please bear with me. I’m going to run WordPress in parallel with the existing What’s New page for a while to see how it goes.

    The new blog allows posting. It’s fine if folks disagree with us but I’ll delete anything uncivil, rude or insulting.

  • New Away 34 Pics

    We’ve been struggling with integrating a ride along payload on Tandem. A combination of serial standards that aren’t and more RF induction. It’s getting there, but it makes for very long days.

    Here’s some more scenes from the Away 34 mission

    Mission Control Away 34 Sunrise Balloon Bag at Dawn
    Plugging in Mission Control. Black Rock at dawn. It’s the Blob!!!!!

    Monkey Pants Away 34 at the Moment of Launch Heading for the Moon
    Now a word from our Sponsor. Launch! Heading for the Moon.