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JPA will be at Dent:Space next week. Stop by and say Hi!

https://www.kickstarter.com/blog/kickstarting-exploration-at-dent-space

Last Sunday the Ascender 36 airship took off from our new launch facility in Northern Nevada.

The first flight of Ascender 36 was a real shake down. It took two hours more than planned to get her into the air. Instead of the forecasted calm morning, we had windy condition with the wind howling from the opposite direction. However when we got her into the air she put her nose up and screamed in to the sky. Our minimum goal was to fly to 7,000 feet. If all went well we would push bit by bit to 10,000 feet. Our goal climb rate was 400 feet per minute. In the end we climbed an average 582 feet per minute and flew all the way to 13,512 feet. We landed her 11 miles down range.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/30/arts/makoto-azuma-flower-art/index.html

We did the final inflation and system test before flight on Ascender 36. We had all plumbing installed and tested the helium transfer system. This lets us move the helium around the airship in flight.  First flight is getting close.

Did you know that PongSat is the largest student flight program in the world. 18,000 payloads flown.

Last weekend we did the third inflation test of the Ascender 36 airship. This was an assembly test. We installed the internal carbon keels, the inner helium cell and all the valves and vents. One step closer to flight.

We tucked the Ascender between the building and our second wind ramp.

Installing the helium lift cells.

Port keel ready to be installed.

What is Airship to Orbit?
It’s a research program, it’s 184 test flights, it’s an army of dedicated volunteers making it happen, and….
it’s a BOOK!!!!!!!!!

The book ‘Floating to Space, the Airship to Orbit Program’ is now being sold direct by the author (yours truly) on amazon. I’ve added two mission DVD to the existing DVD that comes with the book along with mission data sheets.

Click on the book and buy yours today. Help keep us flying!

Wind is always a problem with balloons and airships. Balloon launch bags were our first step in handling the wind. They have allowed us to launch in 45 mph blows. The next step is inflatable wind ramps. The idea is to create a standing wave over the airship keeping the wind out. We think it will take at least two 50 feet apart to setup the wave.

We’ve build two wind ramps. We used them on Ascender parking lot inflation. They work fantastic and let is inflation the airship in wind that wouth otherwise shut us down.

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.