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: | 132cm2 / 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)
Build Photos:
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.