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I like to do a simple sketch of each project we plan to do. This is the Transatmospheric Ascender docked to a small Dark Sky Station.

We came across a study where researcher uses a model rocket engine to test a simple MHD generator.

Experiments for Pulsed MHD Accelerator
driven by Model Rocket Engine

This is a brilliant idea. The MHD generator on our quad engine is of the same general type. Using a small model rocket engine is a great was to calibrate the sensors on the quad. Our Generator is a bit bigger then the authors of the papers used. We’ll use a ‘G’ class motor instead of the “‘C” motor they describe. We need to pull the MHD generator off the quad and build a separate stand for it. I hope to be trying a firing this weekend.

Here a sketch of our first balloon launch rocket. We flew it back in 1995.

Tonight we pressurized the outer shell for the long airbeam for the high beam mission. It runs the length of the outer shop, through the door and into the electronics room. The beam is straight but ended up with a slight twist. We’re going to pull one of the seams about half out and resew to correct it.

We got the Sky Pup to the airport, off the trailer and all assembled, then the wind came up. It was 5 to 10 knots down the runway while we were preping. As we were warming up the engine it shifted to 15 knots 80 degrees across the runway. That’s a bit much for the trial run so back on the trailer she went. The gusts were hitting 18 while we were putting the pup away.

At least the modifications to the tail mount on the trailer worked well.

Another day of sewing, soldering and trailer repair.

The air beam outer shells have been hemmed (thanks Paul) and today we’re making cylinders out of them.

We’re modifying the current data logging system from the Discovery Channel solar missions to measure the current from the MHD generator on the quad engine. We’re going to up the data rate from 5 samples a second to 20 samples a second. Other than that we’ll be running pretty much the same system. Just to be safe side and redundant I think we’re also going to put an auto adjusting meter inline and put a video camera on it. I know it’s klugy, but, I really want that data.

The tail mount for the chase plane on the trailer is very flaky. We had to stop and tighten it several time on the way to the airport. Today we’re making a completely new tail mounting system.

Away 45 from last April.  We call this a ‘Half Rack’. These are great when we need just a light weight test done.

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We’ve finished the remote trigger for the RF portion of the quad engine. The next step is making the mounts for the magnets.

We’ve also finished cutting out the fabric for the two 50 foot air beams (main and backup). The tricky part was marking them. Drawing eight, fifty-four foot long straight lines on an amazingly slippery lightweight fabric is a chore. Now on to hemming and joining. I can just feel the excitement of the team building, “Oh boy more sewing!”.

We made a seven inch diameter air beam test article. Seven inch beams will be used for the the High Beam mission and a fifty foot diameter Dark Sky Station to be launched next summer. Before committing all that fabric on a 50 foot beam we made a eight foot long seven inch diameter beam. It was mainly to testing the fitting of the inner liner and end caps. All the prior air beams were fourteen inches in diameter.

Tonight we pressurized the beam. It held fine at 2 psi, the operating pressure, and burst at 5.1 psi. My ears are still ringing…