Mission: Artemis-1 Flight-1- Recovered

Mission Plan – Artemis Flight-1

Mission Details:

Flight Computer Hardware:
Name: Artemis
Version 1.0 (working prototype)
MCU: PIC16F628
Form: Custom perf-board PCB
GPS: Trimble LassenIQ (discontinued)
Radio: Radiometrix NTX-2
Firmware: Custom Artemis 1.0 (telemetry only)
TX Format RTTY AFSK via software uart over NTX2
Flight Details: (Predicted)
Launch Location:  Churchill College, Cambridge, Chambridgeshire.
Lat/Long: 52.2135, 0.0964
Burst Location: Lat: 30.7416 Long: -102.842 Alt: 32874m Time: 11:46h CDT
Burst Altitude:  34,100m
Land Location:
Ascent Rate: 4.09 m/s
Descent Rate:
Time to burst: 139 minutes
Neck Lift: 1347g
Launch Volume: 2.29m^3  2287L  80.0ft^3
 Launch Date: 6th April 2011
  Launch Time:
Envelope:
Manufacturer: K-Mont
Weight: 1000g
Return Vehicle:
Type: Drone Parachute (UAV)
Manufacturer: ?? UK Military Surplus.
Dimensions: 29″ Radius / 58″ Diameter
 Weight:
Payload (single):
Weight:  1700g
Dimensions: H: 11cm W: 12cm L: 17.5cm
Smallest Surface: 132cm/ 51.96″2
Weight to Size:
Telemetry: RTTY AFSK – Custom UKHAS format.
Photography: 1) Cannon A560 Powershot with CHDK intervalometer
Construction: Polystyrene box. Copper ground plate for radio shielding.
Crew:
Craig Chapman : ChaseCar-1 Ground control
Shaun Chapman : ChaseCar-1 Navigation & Tracking
Michael A:  ChaseCar-2
Launch Assist  (with thanks) The CUSF team, incl J.Sowman and E.Cunningham.

Recovered Data Log: Artemis-Data

Recovered Images: ( A disk failure means that I’m unable to upload the recovered images until I can reacquire the backup, which is currently in another country. Pending… )

Recovered Images (Post Processing)

coastnotsogreatFieldsIMG_0511 fixIMG_0766 fix

 

 

Build Photos:

DSC_0064 DSC_0065 DSC_0066 DSC_0067 DSC_0069 DSC_0077 DSC_0085 DSC_0087 DSC_0088 DSC_0089 DSC_0090 DSC_0091 DSC_0092 DSC_0093 DSC_0096DSC_0100 DSC_0102 DSC_0103 DSC_0104 DSC_0111 DSC_0112 DSC_0113 DSC_0114 DSC_0116 DSC_0117 DSC_0118 DSC_0120 DSC_0121 DSC_0123  DSC_0125DSC_0122

 

Debrief:

The payload flight computer was a hand built, PIC microcontroller based, PCB connecting a Trimble LassenIQ GPS module to a Radiometrix NTX-2 radio transmitter. The PIC microcontroller was programmed entirely in PIC assembler, including a hand coded software UART, which read NMEA GPGGA strings from the GPS device and transmitted them in RTTY over the 70cm radio band. CUSF Members assisted in the launch and UKHAS members assisted in tracking the payload using their custom dl-fldigi software and tracking software at spacenear.us

The flight was a success in as much as, it was tracked upto 120,000 feet and back to ground, where it was recovered after a tense 45 minute or so search. There was a point at which the radio stopped transmitting when close to the ground, and instead, spat some ASCII garbage, but by this time we were close enough to pull out the directional antenna to at least pin-point a direction to head in.

Unfortunately, I made a mistake when configuring the camera for the flight. On one of the brightest days of the year, with glorious sun, I set the ISO (sensitivity) of the camera to maximum instead of minimum. This lead to some very washed out photographs as a result.

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