What’s Happening at JPA

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.

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.