tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-88436701939912965542024-02-20T01:58:23.826+00:00STRATODEANOur journey into near space, from the Forest of Dean.Mark and Cassiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00946072836046667968noreply@blogger.comBlogger43125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8843670193991296554.post-61552933287964882232016-03-21T19:11:00.000+00:002016-03-21T19:13:52.308+00:00STRATODEAN Four - The 360 LaunchWhilst we were launching STRATODEAN Four last weekend, we had Bethan Rosser, our special reporter on hand documenting the day. Thank you Bethan for the excellent video!<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="337" mozallowfullscreen="" src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/159601271" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="600"></iframe>
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<a href="https://vimeo.com/159601271">High Altitude Balloon Launch - March 2016 - Bethan's School Report</a> from <a href="https://vimeo.com/muppetlabs">Matt Rosser</a> on <a href="https://vimeo.com/">Vimeo</a>.<br />
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We've had some positive results with the 360 video so far, but lots of work still to do. Stay tuned :)</div>
Mark and Cassiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00946072836046667968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8843670193991296554.post-12642748205290814162016-03-12T22:29:00.004+00:002016-03-12T22:36:30.977+00:00STRATODEAN Four - A 360 degree journey into near spaceHello, it's been a while!<br />
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Saturday 12th March saw our fourth launch from the Forest of Dean. Thanks to all those who helped track, including radio amateurs from over the water in Holland, Belgium, France, Ireland and Isle of Man!<br />
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As you know we are "hobby HABers" - a phrase I just completely made up for amateur high altitude balloonists - and because of this our high altitude projects were slightly placed on the back burner for 2015. Usually this is due to general life getting in the way, the price of helium and being busy with the day jobs.<br />
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This time round however, it was Mark's day job at BBC Wales that helped us fulfil an aspiration we've had for quite some time - a launch using a 360 degree camera. This exciting new way of broadcasting is still very much in its infancy and the BBC are working to be forerunners in this area. A recent example, a tour of CERN, can be seen on <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-35787139" target="_blank">BBC Click</a>. Currently 360 degree videos are best viewed either on computers using the Chrome browser, or on the YouTube app on your mobile device.<br />
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We've been planning a balloon flight around this theme for quite sometime but hadn't quite been able to put anything into practice. So late last year when Mark's department at BBC Wales Technology purchased a 360 degree GoPro rig, he was first in line trying to borrow it. Mark successfully negotiated with the BBC Wales Innovation Lounge to form a mini project to launch a HAB testing the 360 camera rig in near space.<br />
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So, before anyone could change their mind about launching a precious new piece of equipment into the stratosphere, we leapt into action and volunteered our spare time this weekend to conduct the launch.<br />
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We are currently working to stitch all the feeds together and along with the BBC who will also work their magic, we hope to share some footage with you soon.<br />
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P.S. We are happy to confirm the rig and all GoPros are healthy and doing well following today's excursion.Mark and Cassiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00946072836046667968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8843670193991296554.post-89456120110045563982014-01-12T17:38:00.003+00:002014-01-13T18:39:15.793+00:00Making of Santa Sleigh Test and update for 2014We were truly blown away with the positive response and media interest that our Santa Sleigh Test video gained. It all happened as a bit of a whirlwind, from turning up on the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-25470809" target="_blank">BBC One O'Clock News</a> then again on ITV's evening news, to an appearance in the Daily Mail, Metro and Daily Telegraph newspapers and their respective websites. That was just the UK, so far we've also found coverage on websites in Canada, USA, Mexico, France, Germany, Netherlands, India, Venezuela and Australia. You can find one of our personal favourites <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlT8mvPXGwY" target="_blank">here</a>, with the bemused presenter slightly struggling with our name. Unbeknownst to us, we've also gone from a two person team to a full on research institution. Crikey.<br />
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Artist's impression while </div>
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we were in the planning stages.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Having a trial run, trying to see <br />
what the footage could look like! </td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> It's all coming together.</td></tr>
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What was great was how kind everyone was about the video, taking it in the manner it was intended - as a bit of festive fun. Finally, thank you to all those who shared in our excitement by getting in touch via email and social media and their positive response.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Getting setup for launch.</td></tr>
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As this launch was a bit different to all of our others, we thought we'd create a 'Making Of' video, to explain how we did it and cover the real launch itself.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Santa and Rudolph's journey. </td></tr>
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Plans for 2014</h2>
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We've got a few potential projects in the pipeline and are busy following up on these, hopefully they'll lead to a productive and fun-filled beginning to 2014! One initial thing on the <span style="text-align: center;">to do list is a launch with a dedicated 'Balloon Cam' to try and capture how the balloon changes through the flight - from launch to burst. Watch this space for news on STRATODEAN Four!</span></div>
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Mark and Cassiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00946072836046667968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8843670193991296554.post-12346423781677420052013-12-16T14:54:00.001+00:002014-01-13T18:39:04.052+00:00Santa Sleigh Test (STRATODEAN Three)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='640' height='360' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/C7lxiP4aNLY?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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Here is our slightly silly video for Santa's Sleigh Test (STRATODEAN Three), launched on the 1st December 2013.</div>
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<span style="color: #990000; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Merry Christmas!</span></div>
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The payload was recovered on the outskirts of Yeovil, thanks to all who helped track. </div>
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Full write-up and launch video to follow. </div>
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Mark and Cassiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00946072836046667968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8843670193991296554.post-22463482820726588602013-12-01T20:49:00.001+00:002013-12-01T21:01:49.262+00:00STRATOSantaThanks to all who helped with today's flight. Santa and Rudolph have been recovered and we've got a lot of footage of their voyage to go through!<br />
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We're taking a bit of time to try and put it together into a video, something a bit special ready for Christmas - so please check back soon or <a href="http://twitter.com/stratodean">follow us on Twitter</a> for more frequent updates.<br />
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<br />Mark and Cassiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00946072836046667968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8843670193991296554.post-4579281076116923372013-12-01T11:38:00.002+00:002014-01-13T18:38:41.557+00:00Ho Ho GoWe're off, for those wishing to follow the journey, track here:<br />
<a href="http://spacenear.us/tracker/?filter=SD3;STRATODEANQ_chase">http://spacenear.us/tracker/?filter=SD3;STRATODEANQ_chase</a><br />
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Also we'll be updating Twitter here: <a href="https://twitter.com/stratodean">twitter.com/stratodean</a>Mark and Cassiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00946072836046667968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8843670193991296554.post-79707044786922928262013-11-30T21:42:00.001+00:002013-12-01T00:37:38.109+00:00Twas the night before Launch Day...Final preparations are underway and we are all systems go, ready for our STRATODEAN Three launch at approximately 10:00am tomorrow. Please see <a href="https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/ukhas/ZacUhL2JWMY" target="_blank">here</a> for radio tracking information - if you just want to follow it on a map please see <a href="http://spacenear.us/tracker/" target="_blank">here</a>! You may have noticed that this latest launch has a distinctly festive theme with a few famous faces on board. Therefore we really appreciate all your tracking help, fingers crossed for a successful flight and retrieval! Don't worry - Rudolph is getting an early night.<br />
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The wearing of Christmas jumpers whilst tracking STRATODEAN Three, aka Santa Sleigh Test, aka STRATOSanta, is fully encouraged.<br />
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<br />Mark and Cassiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00946072836046667968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8843670193991296554.post-43197199134033317532013-11-25T22:14:00.001+00:002013-11-26T19:48:15.769+00:00Santa's pre-Christmas sleigh testOK so the first planned date of this launch didn't go well after a mix up with the CAA and our approval for launch. This was certainly disappointing, however truth be told we were a little short on time to put all the finishing touches to the payload - so this could be a blessing in disguise. We used the time this weekend instead to make improvements! We have also made the brave decision to tell you all about it before we launch! :)<br />
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So it's November 25th and with a month to go, Santa and Rudolf have just been finishing off the modifications to their 2013 sleigh. Like all good engineers, Santa has opted to test the new changes before rolling it out into production and he has come to STRATODEAN for help! (It's been a very well kept secret that we provide technical facilities to all our famous mythical friends. The Tooth Fairy and Easter Bunny are already well established customers.)</div>
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He gave us a clear project remit - for us to take him up and down on our payload to allow him to test the new handling abilities of his sleigh. Apparently the cost of reindeer propulsion (magic flying dust) has skyrocketed in the last few years and he can only justify the once a year purchase for Christmas due to Mrs Clauses' bingo habit and the increasing Elf wages. Furthermore, for this test he can only bring Rudolf as the other reindeer are getting on a bit and they need to save their knees.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
We drew up a plan -</div>
<div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHCR8hMZO1tWXSy3hOWACuXLNw6I1xNqdWG2z3oogmpF4QZmnNBVXPCCn_0NX94f8nGXLxATXdobT8648Y5A8Tsbs7YmfpcXF7bnd2whMoKS3kHkO4zDYcMdE_-LUUHE2WC3oLfPe8Kt4/s1600/IMG_7104.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="STRATODEAN Santa handling test v1" border="0" height="425" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHCR8hMZO1tWXSy3hOWACuXLNw6I1xNqdWG2z3oogmpF4QZmnNBVXPCCn_0NX94f8nGXLxATXdobT8648Y5A8Tsbs7YmfpcXF7bnd2whMoKS3kHkO4zDYcMdE_-LUUHE2WC3oLfPe8Kt4/s640/IMG_7104.JPG" title="STRATODEAN Santa handling test v1" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Who else has a whiteboard in their dining room? :p</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span id="goog_1307564779"></span>So the plan is simple, get Santa and Rudolf to the stratosphere, let them test their 2013 sleigh modifications, record the test and finally ensuring they get home safely as they have a job to do in a month - no pressure then!<br />
<br /></div>
Mark and Cassiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00946072836046667968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8843670193991296554.post-70751067098244017632013-11-21T22:48:00.002+00:002013-11-23T09:01:15.882+00:00Potential Launch of STRATODEAN Three this weekend! - POSTPONEDPotential STRATODEAN Three launch this weekend, as always - weather dependant! This will be the first use of our new tracker also.<br />
<br />
This launch has a planned festive theme for video coming in December. Ho-Ho-Hope you like it! Trackers always appreciated. Tracking info can be found <a href="https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/ukhas/36e-s8azAiw" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
<br />
<u><b>Update:</b></u><br />
<u><b><br /></b></u>
Unfortunately we have had to postpone this launch. Will update when we can, we'll have more info on Monday.Mark and Cassiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00946072836046667968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8843670193991296554.post-12108288616598256152013-10-31T22:43:00.002+00:002013-10-31T22:43:30.883+00:00Happy Halloween!Happy Halloween from Team STRATODEAN!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCnAsDHiAFYQ3yavBJpybQAY0dPngmu2z2c4UN4HLsutzzx0o2J7_6td8jaF63_6XlpX5mTbCHCpyjvfAmE6T7EpcmlBTa_Qlh8P3zLdzHIoamYpW37l4SMTodN1VFWAaQVyLARoyUqso/s1600/IMG_7083crop.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="STRATODEAN Pumpkin" border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCnAsDHiAFYQ3yavBJpybQAY0dPngmu2z2c4UN4HLsutzzx0o2J7_6td8jaF63_6XlpX5mTbCHCpyjvfAmE6T7EpcmlBTa_Qlh8P3zLdzHIoamYpW37l4SMTodN1VFWAaQVyLARoyUqso/s640/IMG_7083crop.jpg" title="STRATODEAN Pumpkin" width="617" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Spooky HAB and friend</td></tr>
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<br />Mark and Cassiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00946072836046667968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8843670193991296554.post-92100077402584100342013-10-05T10:46:00.000+01:002013-10-17T13:09:07.562+01:00Our photos - Helping the communityA few months ago we were asked if it was OK to use some of our overhead photographs of the Forest of Dean from our first launch. The request came from <a href="http://www.designandpurpose.com/" target="_blank">Design and Purpose</a> who had been tasked with creating the literature and promotional material for the Berry Hill, Five Acres and Christchurch Neighbourhood Development Plan. This is an important document that is being put together by members of the community in order to have their say with what happens to the local schools, college and leisure centre amongst other things such as future housing development. It was great to get involved and we think the end results look impressive! If anyone else in the Forest of Dean area has any other project ideas or proposals, please <a href="mailto:stratodean@gmail.com" target="_blank">get in touch!</a><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhLRuvylXVwzXyoT4vLJKUBmLM7LwXWmEH86gNiSZRe7IYpuxgqGy12vDyNBxNIh4rwdWgZrNGg6CIUmCtERT22fa5qnzS1CVKw6BUyuCGtPajiEbiItzxLzdV0I2GFoOxf4jLLUT9NjE/s1600/IMG_2612.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="STRATODEAN Berry Hill, Five Acres and Christchurch Neighbourhood Development Plan" border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhLRuvylXVwzXyoT4vLJKUBmLM7LwXWmEH86gNiSZRe7IYpuxgqGy12vDyNBxNIh4rwdWgZrNGg6CIUmCtERT22fa5qnzS1CVKw6BUyuCGtPajiEbiItzxLzdV0I2GFoOxf4jLLUT9NjE/s640/IMG_2612.jpg" title="STRATODEAN Berry Hill, Five Acres and Christchurch Neighbourhood Development Plan" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Berry Hill, Five Acres and Christchurch Neighbourhood Development Plan</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />Mark and Cassiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00946072836046667968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8843670193991296554.post-62665336421001610012013-09-29T11:50:00.003+01:002013-11-21T23:22:19.446+00:00The Second GPS TrackerWhen we started the project last year, the aim was always to get that infamous picture of the Earth’s blue haze and to say that we put something into near space – at the time, the method and technology was thought of as a means to an end. It didn’t really matter ‘that much’ how we did it, just that we did. However as we got more into the project and, after the second launch had issues with getting GPS lock, I decided it was time to improve the GPS tracker and make it ‘my own’. Using the prebuilt breakout boards and the Arduino Uno was definitely the way to go when we started out with personal electronic devices – it meant that the harder, unfamiliar electronics work had been done already. Therefore it was just a case of programming, based on the sample code, in order to get it working. I was, and still am, really proud of the first tracker, but I knew there were definitely areas that could be improved:<br />
<ul>
<li>It was comparatively quite big and heavy, which ultimately meant that we needed more space and helium to take it up.</li>
<li>It took too many batteries to power it.</li>
<li>It was very much a ‘prototype’, where the components were soldered on to strip board – not always the most reliable method.</li>
<li>It was not very robust – we were always scared of dropping it – or it breaking on landing.</li>
</ul>
After speaking to a few guys on the <a href="http://webchat.freenode.net/?channels=highaltitude" target="_blank">#HighAltitude IRC channel</a>, it became apparent that the best (and most fun) way of creating a new tracker would be to design my own in CAD and have my own circuit board created… so that’s what I did!<br />
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<h3>
Designing the new tracker</h3>
The first thing I needed to do is work out what I wanted to achieve with the new tracker. If you aren't familiar with our first tracker, have a look <a href="http://www.stratodean.co.uk/2013/04/the-gps-tracker.html" target="_blank">here</a>. I identified a few key areas:<br />
<ul>
<li>Must be under 100g.</li>
<li>3 or less AA batteries.</li>
<li>Look a lot more ‘professional (!)’.</li>
<li>Be a lot more robust.</li>
<li>Future-proof – with the ability to add additional features at a later stage.</li>
</ul>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeMEqRPYNFi6NpVyfd0vnkZZc6f6pCOZRrKRwDRb3us-J-flzaV3SDM_rrri6Lt9CoP2pjljSY6opeHnAeDy710v7lO6950vAH9tynj34v4pELQRAd8gY9gOaXpjePNHjoS1eB-DKqDYg/s1600/IMG_0211.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="STRATODEAN Designing the layout in Eagle CAD" border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeMEqRPYNFi6NpVyfd0vnkZZc6f6pCOZRrKRwDRb3us-J-flzaV3SDM_rrri6Lt9CoP2pjljSY6opeHnAeDy710v7lO6950vAH9tynj34v4pELQRAd8gY9gOaXpjePNHjoS1eB-DKqDYg/s320/IMG_0211.jpg" title="STRATODEAN Designing the layout in Eagle CAD" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Designing the layout in Eagle CAD</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The second thing was – how do I build it!? It was at this point I managed to get some really helpful hints and tips from Chris Stubbs on IRC (chrisstubbs) on using the Eagle CAD software, and ensuring that my circuit would work! Chris has produced some really good tutorial videos on how to use Eagle – you can see them <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDL9CHratZE" target="_blank">here</a> and <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sv-LWGKtzMI" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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The idea of Eagle is first to create a schematic. This is basically the circuit in block form, showing the logical connections and providing an overview of what is joined to what. Once you are happy with your schematic, you then move into the physical ‘view’ where you can then decide where on the finished circuit board the components will end up. Having not done this before, I found it quite time consuming but really enjoyable to work towards a finished board.<br />
<br />
It was at this time that I had to make a decision on the form-factor of the components. On the first tracker I used ‘hole-through’ components – those that you have to poke through the board and solder on the other side. My third requirement above however, said that the new board needs to look more professional – so for this reason I decided that the best (and more challenging) way would be to use ‘surface-mount’ components. These, as their name describes, are soldered directly onto the surface of the circuit board and give that ‘made by a machine’ look. I knew this would test my soldering skills but I just went for it.<br />
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<h3>
Circuit and components</h3>
Because prototyping on a breadboard has been known to introduce more problems than there would actually be, I took some advice and decided to create the board, have it checked and then hope it would work when I soldered it – a little risky but it had worked for others before, so I hoped for the same! I already knew I would be getting the boards from <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1p6FH25ltGpzJQ5_8fbflDukqEKghiEcpuhJpngth2Is/edit" target="_blank">Hackvana</a> for a very reasonable price, so it was a risk I was willing to take if I had to change the board because of some unfixable problem.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNmsl78eYVsROCarG-NrKSKLlL-Fpnycm0xaJ1en5-oSWjay5Nwl5Q_zYQHnlNcJhjdmp_O-H138yyKTI_gxYrBTXIxdlHG9SZCiK8LlmoEF1veE2EBlFK2awvXkpSJs9DQ_gNSKv8YtQ/s1600/Screen+Shot+2013-09-28+at+10.02.23.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="STRATODEAN Main components of new tracker" border="0" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNmsl78eYVsROCarG-NrKSKLlL-Fpnycm0xaJ1en5-oSWjay5Nwl5Q_zYQHnlNcJhjdmp_O-H138yyKTI_gxYrBTXIxdlHG9SZCiK8LlmoEF1veE2EBlFK2awvXkpSJs9DQ_gNSKv8YtQ/s400/Screen+Shot+2013-09-28+at+10.02.23.png" title="STRATODEAN Main components of new tracker" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Main components of tracker</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
This circuit is designed to run off a minimum of 3AA batteries, but can run up to 6+ (if the additional external components require it). It does this by using the <a href="http://www.ti.com/product/lp2992" target="_blank">LP2992</a> voltage regulator, which takes any input voltage between 4v and 16v and outputs 3.3v. There is an error with the above diagram. I had mistakenly connected the bypass directly to ground, instead of through a capacitor to ground. Initially this was giving an output of half the expected voltage and took a little while to debug. The resolution was to simply disconnect the bypass altogether from the circuit, by cutting the leg off the regulator.<br />
<br />
I decided to stick with the same microcontroller as in the <a href="http://www.stratodean.co.uk/2013/04/the-gps-tracker.html" target="_blank">first tracker</a>, the ATMega328. This was because I was already familiar with this way of working and coding, so wouldn’t have to relearn this element. The other key components were also familiar – the same NTX2 model as before and the uBlox GPS chip, although this time using the upgraded Max7C which promised better power consumption. The GPS antenna also remained the same Sarantel brand as before, though this time a different model than was found on the previous breakout board. I later learned that Sarantel have gone into <a href="http://www.insidermedia.com/insider/midlands/92290-sarantel-calls-pwc" target="_blank">administration</a> (at the time of writing), so I guess stocks of this antenna will soon diminish – will have to keep an eye on this. The same one-wire DS18B20 temperature sensors were included, I mounted one directly on the board and ensured I had a connection for the same external probe as on our second launch. Finally I included a micro-SD card reader to record our data as before.
<br />
For our next launches, we wanted some way of moving the camera or an object in near space. To do this I have made previsions to allow for a servo to be connected, with the power being delivered through a MOSFET to allow us to turn it on and off to save power.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBBvIlrpiCZKc_pY52UUpgU15qeeDeixFYpD7WZq8pbSLWeJRp8Z8U00TWsuJwrVhNwVe8mU-JLW5o6cMfyDo3L72_YFyFTeG8P5MKf9OX3DeXVV7Y9QWPIoY_8NVrTfkqi5sRp_kGf9Y/s1600/AVR-ISP500-01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Olimex ISP-500 AVR" border="0" height="236" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBBvIlrpiCZKc_pY52UUpgU15qeeDeixFYpD7WZq8pbSLWeJRp8Z8U00TWsuJwrVhNwVe8mU-JLW5o6cMfyDo3L72_YFyFTeG8P5MKf9OX3DeXVV7Y9QWPIoY_8NVrTfkqi5sRp_kGf9Y/s320/AVR-ISP500-01.jpg" title="Olimex ISP-500 AVR" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Olimex ISP-500 AVR</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
When creating the first tracker, the interface with the computer I was using to program this was very straightforward – the USB lead from the Arduino Uno. In order to program this new board, I had to implement a different method – ‘In-Circuit Serial Programming’ – <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In-circuit_serial_programming" target="_blank">ICSP</a>. For this to work, I purchased an <a href="https://www.olimex.com/AVR-ISP500.html" target="_blank">Olimex ISP-500 AVR</a> programmer from eBay, which would work in conjunction with the ICSP header on the board. One tip for the capacitors and resistors is to buy a sample book, which has every value you need – I got my one from eBay, posted from China. After a little configuring, programming the board was done in much the same way as before.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<h3>
Soldering the new board</h3>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj90MYE4Lx3VM94wF0LniWOgT7AowP4gmUxaCYrtzQknIUMm1O3kfHJD81MoyhJPEoOIUW4FLbvro_7AIxCnFEDa9jy7y2RmRMnriy8UVvQ9Jt7xp6NtfrkfJm5Cy-G9BdyrLtmXMU-9Xc/s1600/IMG_0244.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="STRATODEAN New boards" border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj90MYE4Lx3VM94wF0LniWOgT7AowP4gmUxaCYrtzQknIUMm1O3kfHJD81MoyhJPEoOIUW4FLbvro_7AIxCnFEDa9jy7y2RmRMnriy8UVvQ9Jt7xp6NtfrkfJm5Cy-G9BdyrLtmXMU-9Xc/s320/IMG_0244.jpg" title="STRATODEAN New boards" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">New boards!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Once I had received the fantastic new boards from Hackvana, it was then necessary to start soldering. The components were either ordered as manufacturer samples, or from eBay and HAB Supplies. I had done a fair bit of soldering in the past but never SMD. To research and get some knowledge on how to do this, I looked at <a href="http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=smd+soldering" target="_blank">these</a> YouTube tutorials. As long as you have the right tools (small soldering head, small gauge solder, tweezers and flux) and take your time, soldering SMD components is a somewhat satisfying experience!<br />
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<h3>
New code</h3>
The code from the first tracker was not ideal, it did the job but was not very refined and I knew many improvements could be made. I decided that if I was making new hardware, then the software would get the same attention. The main thing to improve with the first tracker was the fact that it was doing everything sequentially – looking for a GPS position, processing it, sending it over the radio, repeat. After some research I and talking with some people on IRC, the concept of ‘Interrupts’ was brought to my attention – they are fantastic! The idea is that you can set up a scenario where two portions of the code can be run at the same time. To do this you create your main repeating chunk of code in the loop, but at the same set up ‘timers’ which then ‘interrupt’ the main flow of code to process some other code, while continuing with the main flow. For our purposes, the GPS data receive and processing is the main body, while the radio transmission is our interrupt element. This has improved the reliability of the code no-end and I really do recommend trying to use interrupts instead of the delay code. You can see the basic working GPS and radio code on my <a href="https://github.com/stratodean/GPSRadioOnly" target="_blank">Github</a> code repository.<br />
<br />
<h3>
The finished tracker</h3>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioRWInOxXqEra8jLIAkPh12P3q7Dpee4-nUcnPGZWN97Fmp1RxAFfw6UOQZrxwkAhzTI15troZlcY_mjoW8RrUfVyHJQFWpnoknlJhVbtsuffLk88idZC6WXVp_xJcQnkynIdURHwax9w/s1600/IMG_0236.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="STRATODEAN Second Tracker" border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioRWInOxXqEra8jLIAkPh12P3q7Dpee4-nUcnPGZWN97Fmp1RxAFfw6UOQZrxwkAhzTI15troZlcY_mjoW8RrUfVyHJQFWpnoknlJhVbtsuffLk88idZC6WXVp_xJcQnkynIdURHwax9w/s400/IMG_0236.jpg" title="STRATODEAN Second Tracker" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The New Tracker</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
So here it is - I hope you agree it looks a lot more professional than the first one! We are very proud of this new tracker and can't wait to launch it. It is 100g lighter than the first one and runs off 3 AA batteries so saving both weight and power. I have connections on the left for power, external temperature and two servos if required. Also included is the micro SD card. I haven't gone into too many technical details here, but if you do want to find out more, please drop us an email <a href="mailto:stratodean@gmail.com">stratodean@gmail.com</a>.<br />
<br />
We look forward to flying it soon!Mark and Cassiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00946072836046667968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8843670193991296554.post-35832862318831631442013-09-08T21:21:00.002+01:002013-09-08T21:33:58.871+01:00The International UKHAS Conference 2013<div>
This weekend saw the annual UKHAS Conference, which is now in its third year. For us personally, it was our first UKHAS event and we were really looking forward to putting faces to names and in some cases putting chat names/callsigns to names and then to faces! It was also slightly bizarre thinking that this time last year we hadn't even began our HAB experience yet. The day was a great time to fully appreciate just how strong the UKHAS community is. </div>
<div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcWkldnzSyD_lHm13sr4-IY2rMoN0wcU3LnakLQrBQTZYkySNCiEMshQ38sjml1H3rlt_y4D__6lu9jSYtjoSb3k2UdCqWCgIqb6LOmEue_WeCaftfC8nbClxXGXZLv2_H8mC7XVpVcr0/s1600/IMG_0001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcWkldnzSyD_lHm13sr4-IY2rMoN0wcU3LnakLQrBQTZYkySNCiEMshQ38sjml1H3rlt_y4D__6lu9jSYtjoSb3k2UdCqWCgIqb6LOmEue_WeCaftfC8nbClxXGXZLv2_H8mC7XVpVcr0/s320/IMG_0001.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;"><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">This year's venue was the University of Greenwich - very swish.</span></div>
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</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDAPi3BxYXUdPlzL6xWykjsNn6qUyUqFTszAXmBTQOLppzto8hV9gMHr_DPNefuTmwD8hfirrCf3G7jsBRfMlQsY7lQIhKloArqXbqZmWo4hMXuRSPCYSU7Za7s7nFvKT_U_11dfI07ME/s1600/IMG_1803.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDAPi3BxYXUdPlzL6xWykjsNn6qUyUqFTszAXmBTQOLppzto8hV9gMHr_DPNefuTmwD8hfirrCf3G7jsBRfMlQsY7lQIhKloArqXbqZmWo4hMXuRSPCYSU7Za7s7nFvKT_U_11dfI07ME/s320/IMG_1803.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Train selfie. </span></div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
You can view the day's timetable <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1SjENgll8iYXLDli4HJHR1DgjHrHjmpAm1vChTz-bo-M" target="_blank">here</a>. The talks and presentations certainly didn't disappoint with a good range of topics for all levels, from James Coxon's visit back to the early HAB projects to Matt Brezja's in-depth discussion on Forward Error Correction. The BATC filmed and uploaded the presentations, therefore you can view the videos on their website <a href="http://www.batc.tv/channel.php?ch=1" target="_blank">here</a>; simply select the 'HAB 2013' category and the desired stream from the drop down menus.<br />
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<div>
It was really great to learn that some people present were new enthusiasts just beginning to embark on their own projects. Even one or two who had been introduced to high altitude ballooning by tracking one of our launches. Thanks to them for saying hi and letting us know!</div>
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<div>
Some of the other projects on show outside of the organised talks included Chris Stubbs' camera, programmed to send jpegs wirelessly over SSDV without the need for a separate microcontroller.</div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMIUSpptN_PvhFnbodk5P4G_EELHWLF2N-mlDrdr2NcseU-PdtKt4pqp-5YRRG3Kefj8m4oEj-BoGqi_LHW-h5dYhYeoJY0x6qth_MSTEIt-GiH2EoGjo_gAYemJ1dSaeaSzlfmTShLVg/s1600/IMG_0006.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMIUSpptN_PvhFnbodk5P4G_EELHWLF2N-mlDrdr2NcseU-PdtKt4pqp-5YRRG3Kefj8m4oEj-BoGqi_LHW-h5dYhYeoJY0x6qth_MSTEIt-GiH2EoGjo_gAYemJ1dSaeaSzlfmTShLVg/s320/IMG_0006.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chris Stubbs with his modified camera.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhF8QvnA9xDFO9w7V4KCV5J_5emE2JEiX1zAwkpvsOLwqb9Tq5SgyAlHAjWN2q59OgN1UAg5uqoBFxfzWBLJFTbjn6xN9lSt0j06o7Pghdx7vKC1VOT-hzZt45soUSW5TzIbTwrt07MQfk/s1600/IMG_0008.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhF8QvnA9xDFO9w7V4KCV5J_5emE2JEiX1zAwkpvsOLwqb9Tq5SgyAlHAjWN2q59OgN1UAg5uqoBFxfzWBLJFTbjn6xN9lSt0j06o7Pghdx7vKC1VOT-hzZt45soUSW5TzIbTwrt07MQfk/s320/IMG_0008.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">GPS workshop - finger courtesy of Ed Moore.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
<div>
All in all, thanks to all those involved with this year's conference, it was great to meet everyone in person and we look forward to returning next year. </div>
</div>
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<div>
A STRATODEAN Three and Four update is on the way, watch this space!</div>
Mark and Cassiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00946072836046667968noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8843670193991296554.post-16428761752383943862013-07-23T21:57:00.002+01:002013-10-08T22:10:52.406+01:00AMSAT-UK PresentationLast Saturday we were invited to present at the AMSAT-UK Colloquium in Guildford. We had a fantastic day, starting out with a brilliant tour around the Surrey Space Centre. Who knew the UK was so advanced in space satellite technology!? Very impressive stuff - wish I lived closer (any job offers welcome ;)).<br />
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AMSAT-UK, for those who aren't familiar, is the UK arm of the worldwide AMSAT organisation who specialise in radio amateur satellites. The great group of guys (and ladies) there use their radio knowledge to either build satellites that get launched with other rockets and payloads, or use their equipment at home to track them.<br />
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We were asked if we would like to present at the Colloquium and after some initial worries, we decided to go for it! We knew it would be a tight schedule in terms of preparation, because of the house move - but it was such a amazing opportunity to meet experts and dedicated specialists from across the world.<br />
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We were so glad when the actual presentation was well received and thanks to all those at AMSAT who were very kind and welcoming. The presentation was aimed at all audiences so we included as much of a range as we could, covering the basics as well as getting in some project background, coding, payload construction, tracking information and an insight into recovery (inc. the sheep from STRATODEAN Two)! It was quite the task trying to pitch it right but hopefully there's something to interest everyone.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="480" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/aEmLeEKfzyo?rel=0" width="640"></iframe>
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The weekend included a full programme of presentations and talks by representatives of the British Interplanetary Society, UK Space Agency and European Space Agency, to name but a few. Please find information and the videos provided by the British Amateur Television Club (BATC) <a href="http://amsat-uk.org/colloquium/colloquium-2013/presentation-videos/" target="_blank">here</a>.Mark and Cassiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00946072836046667968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8843670193991296554.post-44806401950742642352013-07-18T20:59:00.000+01:002013-07-18T21:10:39.968+01:00STRATODEAN UpdateAdmittedly all has been slightly quiet on the blog front but we don't want you thinking we've been resting on our laurels! Instead we've been busy planning STRATODEAN Three, so here's a sneaky peak of the custom circuit board we've designed and had made.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisqfkIv3whRpWYlMddieZPgL6c2bbP2f5zGVpjN7hvzLW6biQTu8nMjO2RnTUC4GueE2Emsp57RmTNJzL5YrXVIUUEca306pm8Dz1o6_5kFICgmTgg6TAwLwMxOG7uw9srnXzD_K_bpLY/s1600/Photo+11-07-2013+08+15+35.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisqfkIv3whRpWYlMddieZPgL6c2bbP2f5zGVpjN7hvzLW6biQTu8nMjO2RnTUC4GueE2Emsp57RmTNJzL5YrXVIUUEca306pm8Dz1o6_5kFICgmTgg6TAwLwMxOG7uw9srnXzD_K_bpLY/s320/Photo+11-07-2013+08+15+35.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
Early aims/ideas for STRATODEAN Three include a upwards facing camera to capture the moment of balloon burst and the inclusion of rotating servos. <br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGPq-M_Ctm54QPts-jbk4SmAWejgYf_nZ02eyZlOcas1TqfhpFjforDaDr6290QYKnrFk5mieOhdTqpwyx7zH7DDg6OKuUrwdXXM-I0a05Ko426LJTg0NXWyNpA6_GtJU56S3uZsaRkh4/s1600/IMG_1474.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGPq-M_Ctm54QPts-jbk4SmAWejgYf_nZ02eyZlOcas1TqfhpFjforDaDr6290QYKnrFk5mieOhdTqpwyx7zH7DDg6OKuUrwdXXM-I0a05Ko426LJTg0NXWyNpA6_GtJU56S3uZsaRkh4/s200/IMG_1474.jpg" width="150" /></a><br />
A lot of time has also been taken up with a STRATODEAN HQ move. That's right, we have a new abode complete with faster internet - yippee! On the right is a photo of Mark putting up some curtains to act as proof of the move.<br />
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We're also very excited to be speaking at this weekend's AMSAT-UK International Space Colloquium, further information can be found <a href="http://amsat-uk.org/2013/07/17/team-stratodean-high-altitude-balloon-talk/">here</a>. To anyone attending the talk but visiting our blog ahead of the day: <br />
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"Hello! Hope you find our project interesting but no watching our STRATODEAN Two video as we'll be showing it on Saturday!"Mark and Cassiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00946072836046667968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8843670193991296554.post-15276039466229822322013-05-26T17:05:00.001+01:002021-05-21T10:37:10.741+01:00STRATODEAN Two<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Here's our video of STRATODEAN Two - don't forget to view in HD and that you can pause the video if you see something interesting! The photos are at the bottom of this page.</div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe class="BLOG_video_class" allowfullscreen="" youtube-src-id="EUm5X3Fq4Tw" width="400" height="322" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/EUm5X3Fq4Tw"></iframe></div>
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Saturday afternoon saw the launch of our second high altitude balloon. There was less build up for this one and to be frank we weren't initially planning on launching again so quickly, but an opportunity presented itself and we just decided to go for it.<br />
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We decided so quickly, we almost surprised ourselves. There were a few factors which played a part:<br />
<ul>
<li>we were still in possession of a half full jumbo tank of helium just begging to be used</li>
<li>the nice man at the CAA had given us approval and it would be rude not to use it</li>
<li>that GoPro video camera lens fogging incident first time round was rather annoying and we still felt like we could get better images and video</li>
<li>the launch predictor was showing an unusual flight path doubling over our hometown and then making its way over the picturesque Brecon Beacons</li>
<li>family members who were unable to make the first launch wanted a repeat so they could see a bit of the action</li>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDjrGGyx08sCyd2d99qrE1-JtVblRcdjTui-l0dSHl-M-ig4XBSCnnZ4wo0a3a9lBJTpNS0WPaj9qVWNOuz2ewNu7c-qJT49CijgZwyTMi0qjitixcHqljPyk4fOCRraevqXhXR9Uo-GA/s1600/IMG_3418.JPG" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDjrGGyx08sCyd2d99qrE1-JtVblRcdjTui-l0dSHl-M-ig4XBSCnnZ4wo0a3a9lBJTpNS0WPaj9qVWNOuz2ewNu7c-qJT49CijgZwyTMi0qjitixcHqljPyk4fOCRraevqXhXR9Uo-GA/s320/IMG_3418.JPG" width="320" /></a>So low and behold, we found ourselves at the local recreational ground once more, ready for launch. You can read a little more about the amendments we made to our payload and tracker <a href="http://www.stratodean.co.uk/2013/05/our-second-launch-tomorrow.html" target="_blank">here</a>, everything thing else pretty much stayed the same.<br />
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Our launch preparations were delayed slightly by a slight tracker hiccup; it was connecting to the GPS and uploading our location correctly but the signal was unreliable, dropping in and out. We didn't want to risk launching without a firm satellite fix so this set us back around 40 minutes.<br />
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As you will see, it wasn't exactly clear, blue skies but due to this we actually managed to capture some interesting cloud formations.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBuDvSOnqbKEAhl3oQcH7p4AThhL38513gqnjVLT78x0q18WPl36aefCDLVoCw54i9NUKjoPTJFe6IriS5MHtimU0U0sXdmnN962wFso9E6aYPbEeTrwxgoq6Uflf-uThKyhUPYqBn2p4/s1600/IMG_3429.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="STRATODEAN Two Sitting down on the job" border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBuDvSOnqbKEAhl3oQcH7p4AThhL38513gqnjVLT78x0q18WPl36aefCDLVoCw54i9NUKjoPTJFe6IriS5MHtimU0U0sXdmnN962wFso9E6aYPbEeTrwxgoq6Uflf-uThKyhUPYqBn2p4/s320/IMG_3429.JPG" title="STRATODEAN Two Sitting down on the job" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">What's this, sitting down on the job?!</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjy8mXlHlgACUr0l2Hsz9nCUNQqzKEgr725ckHHIxN9LVSU6rkHmYrXdjSKacVnJH0joawhWrSeI5VZN4CLcqOj6vASrl3zYedSoE6gH92Qgv-FkOp6FTC0P4GDJt4yg9K4Pn2JBmY1-Rc/s1600/IMG_3451.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="STRATODEAN Two Walking out to launch" border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjy8mXlHlgACUr0l2Hsz9nCUNQqzKEgr725ckHHIxN9LVSU6rkHmYrXdjSKacVnJH0joawhWrSeI5VZN4CLcqOj6vASrl3zYedSoE6gH92Qgv-FkOp6FTC0P4GDJt4yg9K4Pn2JBmY1-Rc/s320/IMG_3451.JPG" title="STRATODEAN Two Walking out to launch" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">All systems go! Walking out to launch.</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiS0v8HBEE-lTpgCt3K5d-CtDngotz2XQDXF2fAuChJrk4s1CTHIjp0dlwc49miGQAkfjnQzvreSs36-_5f8809X2CpZyGrStH92NHOz9SG4xQZoLpp8kWTQiAmn3YVKlrYX-wrYb3kYzU/s1600/IMG_0371.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="STRATODEAN Two between cloud layers" border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiS0v8HBEE-lTpgCt3K5d-CtDngotz2XQDXF2fAuChJrk4s1CTHIjp0dlwc49miGQAkfjnQzvreSs36-_5f8809X2CpZyGrStH92NHOz9SG4xQZoLpp8kWTQiAmn3YVKlrYX-wrYb3kYzU/s640/IMG_0371.JPG" title="STRATODEAN Two between cloud layers" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sandwiched between two cloud layers.</td></tr>
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You can view our flight path below. Whereas our STRATODEAN One chase primarily featured worrying about how we forgot to attach our contact details label to the payload, this time round it was characterised by a distinct lack of mobile phone signal. </div>
<div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTM1DKiwLSUYy3GQYmSQV2UTX8OWWJdvLHg10ok9v2AqhZk3CleW_2SH0-bz9h1WenXfpTE1cAXfxH26sp6hqcoQwM4cyHvDcjjCIZhtTDqgE9vrX-yO88d1nlaXGorcKUYl9HbLd5BbA/s1600/Screen+Shot+2013-05-19+at+12.26.03.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="STRATODEAN Two Flight Path" border="0" height="196" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTM1DKiwLSUYy3GQYmSQV2UTX8OWWJdvLHg10ok9v2AqhZk3CleW_2SH0-bz9h1WenXfpTE1cAXfxH26sp6hqcoQwM4cyHvDcjjCIZhtTDqgE9vrX-yO88d1nlaXGorcKUYl9HbLd5BbA/s640/Screen+Shot+2013-05-19+at+12.26.03.png" title="STRATODEAN Two Flight Path" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">STRATODEAN Two Flight Path</td></tr>
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<div>
We said hello (and swiftly goodbye) to 3G around the Abergavenny area and from that point on only had normal mobile phone signal at intermittent intervals. Our three networks (O2, Vodafone and Virgin) all failed us! Whilst we remained in good contact with the tracker and were consistenly receiving altitude and location data, our lack of 3G meant we just weren't able to decipher these coordinates. This meant having to rely on good old-fashioned map books and calling friends with Wi-Fi back at home. Turns out spelling the names of remote Welsh areas on a crackling phone line is more difficult that you think, two of our favourites were: Coed Aberllechach and Llanddeusant.<br />
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<div>
Apologies to all for our lack of contact on the UKHAS chat and Twitter - believe us it was very frustrating! While we were struggling for any type of signal, our colleagues in Chase Car Mini had 3G (lucky duckies!) and were quite happily tracking away using their network of choice '3'. Their tracking ability ended when the HAB tracking community lost contact due to the mountains breaking their line-of-sight at approx. 2500 feet. Shortly after the payload had landed, when we miraculously had signal, we managed to rendez-vous with Chase Car Mini and use their 3G to look up our up-to-date GPS coordinates from our SDR receiver. It had landed in a field of sheep, conveniently right next to the road and only two minutes away.</div>
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We recovered the payload approx. 15 minutes after landing. As the location was so open and accessible, with better 3G infrastructure we think we would have actually been very close to being able to watch it land! The dream of catching the payload (or more realistically, being hit on the head by it) as it falls from the Earth's atmosphere lives on...
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiutfmyV9-0R2MeOmyrqJ6QyX79G7lN0sdPJOMnMK1RMSduKodx9slNIWpvjQpOUOAJQWpzMxx6Yk41rGyYnc7uFHkoD_r5f08u11IA5MYAVZ_FQ3CTuEfyduZcqNjKGEhUUMYulRNzFs4/s1600/IMG_3484.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="STRATODEAN Two Sheep" border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiutfmyV9-0R2MeOmyrqJ6QyX79G7lN0sdPJOMnMK1RMSduKodx9slNIWpvjQpOUOAJQWpzMxx6Yk41rGyYnc7uFHkoD_r5f08u11IA5MYAVZ_FQ3CTuEfyduZcqNjKGEhUUMYulRNzFs4/s320/IMG_3484.JPG" title="STRATODEAN Two Sheep" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Locals are unimpressed with our parachute.</td></tr>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpOwNcPc_H854nzaS-iHy7v-72cuKAsRDiJVRDx0YJo54n3aeRFGNDJL5PP_RG4tpOf3R0jdqvEj4WOGE5trMJkkCIFZpMFd7mvikSgSg4jYkFBWqclgTTPl7ce-cocITru073fKuUsJQ/s1600/IMG_3509.JPG" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpOwNcPc_H854nzaS-iHy7v-72cuKAsRDiJVRDx0YJo54n3aeRFGNDJL5PP_RG4tpOf3R0jdqvEj4WOGE5trMJkkCIFZpMFd7mvikSgSg4jYkFBWqclgTTPl7ce-cocITru073fKuUsJQ/s320/IMG_3509.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Team high five - Cassie putting in a little more effort than Mark.</td></tr>
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We have picked out some of our favourite photos from the on-board still camera below. Be sure to check out more in our album at the bottom of the page. As well as the Earth, there's some nice pics of the Brecon Beacons, a reservoir and even some sheep. Yippee. We were a lot happier with these images and with the side-mounted camera picking up the curvature of the Earth.</div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeQcVQeAnVLhX5a-i3BPrkQHuo5zFEXct4Pv2TvvcLR44CEXzmD32CT2oMnU4rmNhVUgRMsVHtMkwUPaYaMDj7mxW6KT8-m9wdEPLxsOY8F4ey690rmztFU_D7C_mwhf_7BXGUIm69gKQ/s1600/IMG_1315.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="STRATODEAN Two" border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeQcVQeAnVLhX5a-i3BPrkQHuo5zFEXct4Pv2TvvcLR44CEXzmD32CT2oMnU4rmNhVUgRMsVHtMkwUPaYaMDj7mxW6KT8-m9wdEPLxsOY8F4ey690rmztFU_D7C_mwhf_7BXGUIm69gKQ/s320/IMG_1315.JPG" title="STRATODEAN Two" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Camera pointing south, the two bodies of water <br />
are the Bristol Channel and English Channel.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXgRKNtHCurG7OnMkz8DjhL2JX0QPAoVAQcHV73a0lPMDcNNZyAJ4OeaW96wjNigf-JA-zAgpL1jPmTrSIcISOdP0lfOPzz5BkIxsvdRj_BruVM3OFxGNAODJ_lkfMcRZIMg8oqJHQ6Bc/s1600/IMG_1356.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="STRATODEAN Two" border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXgRKNtHCurG7OnMkz8DjhL2JX0QPAoVAQcHV73a0lPMDcNNZyAJ4OeaW96wjNigf-JA-zAgpL1jPmTrSIcISOdP0lfOPzz5BkIxsvdRj_BruVM3OFxGNAODJ_lkfMcRZIMg8oqJHQ6Bc/s320/IMG_1356.JPG" title="STRATODEAN Two" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Nice sunny day up here! Our sensors showed that </span><span style="font-size: x-small;">the temperature </span><span style="font-size: x-small;">dropped to its lowest -31C at 11000m </span><span style="font-size: x-small;">and then rose again to 6C at time of burst. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXxIqWqtzmMckiQ1tFKfr4Zz9wgI1sGw265-YoOTtAM8R3GhZdjP6fzFRIODwTwuxs338KKLB4FLcgdqc2nDbZBpvbDnETkRUfsjI8ob1wCwBIhTS2dxp6lFu02aG_F5Jbwd-WQ9L9ffQ/s1600/IMG_1386.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="STRATODEAN Two" border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXxIqWqtzmMckiQ1tFKfr4Zz9wgI1sGw265-YoOTtAM8R3GhZdjP6fzFRIODwTwuxs338KKLB4FLcgdqc2nDbZBpvbDnETkRUfsjI8ob1wCwBIhTS2dxp6lFu02aG_F5Jbwd-WQ9L9ffQ/s320/IMG_1386.JPG" title="STRATODEAN Two" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Aeroplane trails crisscrossing into the clouds.<br />
This area is the primary flight path from Heathrow to the USA.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtveiucBRrOmI4afRPTVaE6qTJ8uX_Maa936nJ5qqTSbk-B6cQrHZzOquenNxglz7qfPdTkDx-l6iwpRouSbm-iA2YvQB8KCLH7ChXu15KIcpEJjFzV-70WHVKnSQOVWwh2Svw7LRuDSE/s1600/IMG_1371.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="STRATODEAN Two Moon" border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtveiucBRrOmI4afRPTVaE6qTJ8uX_Maa936nJ5qqTSbk-B6cQrHZzOquenNxglz7qfPdTkDx-l6iwpRouSbm-iA2YvQB8KCLH7ChXu15KIcpEJjFzV-70WHVKnSQOVWwh2Svw7LRuDSE/s320/IMG_1371.JPG" title="STRATODEAN Two Moon" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">That little white dot is the Moon.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: -webkit-auto;">
As mentioned above, one of the driving factors for a quick second launch was the misting up of our GoPro camera first time round. The below pictures are a clear example of the difference made by removing the plastic protection over the lens, which prevented any condensation forming. We were much happier with the improved colour definition and image quality.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: -webkit-auto;">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6VymOe3uFCam6LGv_okXRXtTO-MVocV84Z7khUgEOShyC4V_vp8VsW5quo97MbLBar2Qxuko5RKJUHkJlE9O8za4MQupBZFJkieN5WvOCNg67DxyG0gFEQss96r7J-gaA4uPkhvwW1WU/s1600/Stratosphere.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="STRATODEAN One GoPro Video" border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6VymOe3uFCam6LGv_okXRXtTO-MVocV84Z7khUgEOShyC4V_vp8VsW5quo97MbLBar2Qxuko5RKJUHkJlE9O8za4MQupBZFJkieN5WvOCNg67DxyG0gFEQss96r7J-gaA4uPkhvwW1WU/s320/Stratosphere.jpg" title="STRATODEAN One GoPro Video" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Still from our STRATODEAN One GoPro Video.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRf5az5b7nbiK3Q2g8enEQXcMqgYGpASo0ZfmoRtRzL_QFlOGNiVloQ7IwioRDwFOWNYs-jgf_JL-AiYBO_9ZfyfCY5fmA-aGev6RQ5qIbFA_e-Eqb7fW6aslc7QmUNYPZwiAmZp-hdy0/s1600/GoPro2.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="STRATODEAN Two GoPro Video" border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRf5az5b7nbiK3Q2g8enEQXcMqgYGpASo0ZfmoRtRzL_QFlOGNiVloQ7IwioRDwFOWNYs-jgf_JL-AiYBO_9ZfyfCY5fmA-aGev6RQ5qIbFA_e-Eqb7fW6aslc7QmUNYPZwiAmZp-hdy0/s320/GoPro2.jpg" title="STRATODEAN Two GoPro Video" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Still from our STRATODEAN Two GoPro Video.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
What we learnt this time round:<br />
<ul>
<li>For all future launches, '3' is the dongle network of choice</li>
<li>Clouds are interesting</li>
</ul>
A special thank you to Matt, our official Team STRATODEAN photographer for the day.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJpij73p6VFCoLgbItXQVqIBbqopDfEUYjBouUqQBSGSt3IHXKAn7a0GXfNUTdo8_d2bgGutK4W0ZaL_r1LwXtB1uN2EAkDMFBIS85on4-pcUugZDGxABqocZv450aiWCOE09dYgJ-in8/s1600/IMG_1112.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJpij73p6VFCoLgbItXQVqIBbqopDfEUYjBouUqQBSGSt3IHXKAn7a0GXfNUTdo8_d2bgGutK4W0ZaL_r1LwXtB1uN2EAkDMFBIS85on4-pcUugZDGxABqocZv450aiWCOE09dYgJ-in8/s320/IMG_1112.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">No, the cameras aren't all his. <br />
Canon, if you're reading this - please sponsor us with a super duper lens. Cheers.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH6y1CBnioq5cX_RgsUrlJD8vDyGQ4aXKY7DJht1hihpBaoAHNmzqOqUWS2LAMA1Bg8YsYctcHzgtfu-FLQgQZWjTWEgpBizyxK2KuYlrDJYerGad8a4XRyFpDFqMqfNSwUpoyxzKXsHU/s1600/IMG_3504.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="STRATODEAN Two Job Done" border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH6y1CBnioq5cX_RgsUrlJD8vDyGQ4aXKY7DJht1hihpBaoAHNmzqOqUWS2LAMA1Bg8YsYctcHzgtfu-FLQgQZWjTWEgpBizyxK2KuYlrDJYerGad8a4XRyFpDFqMqfNSwUpoyxzKXsHU/s320/IMG_3504.jpg" title="STRATODEAN Two Job Done" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Job done.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/106344441677510134125/STRATODEANTwo" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;">CLICK HERE FOR PAYLOAD PHOTO ALBUM<br /><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgERDdEu7gPSG4kVzBsMywXQfEFHLDFFsAC80_TTvGecBY9j_GOQbU8JhOsKhEH9MlER45K40ApqNzWDDHMYo1oWDQpNwyOrU7dFX29P4lZXQScBAf7gOH07q5wpv8v0KtAFvJIPB3cAtg/s320/IMG_1880+%25281%2529.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
</div>Mark and Cassiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00946072836046667968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8843670193991296554.post-49942183159592889002013-05-17T22:09:00.000+01:002013-09-27T16:12:13.185+01:00Our second launch tomorrow!A very quick post today confirming we are preparing for a launch tomorrow afternoon - although as always, weather permitting!<br />
<br />
As a quick summary we've:<br />
<ul>
<li>Added two temperature sensors to monitor the changes both inside and outside the payload. </li>
<li>Installed the still camera (previously used pointing downwards) into a side position for more horizon photos.</li>
<li>Removed the lens cover from the GoPro camera so as to hopefully avoid the fogging as seen on the first video.</li>
</ul>
<div>
This launch follows quick on the heels of our first as we are still within our balloon helium hire and are able to use our original spare balloon. The weather predictions have been prohibitive until very recently so we want to pounce while the opportunity is there. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Any assistance with tracking would be much appreciated by fellow HABers. Tracking details can be found on the UKHAS site. It's looking like a potentially interesting recovery in the Brecon Beacons (hiking boots at the ready!).</div>
Mark and Cassiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00946072836046667968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8843670193991296554.post-61366058628319992432013-05-07T22:17:00.000+01:002013-05-07T22:18:19.214+01:00STRATODEAN One Follow-up and Future PlansAs promised, here are some of the stats and data we've gathered from <a href="http://www.stratodean.co.uk/2013/04/stratodean-one.html" target="_blank">STRATODEAN One</a>. We launched on Sunday 21st April at 10:14am from our local rec in Coleford.<br />
<br />
We listed our flight on the <a href="https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/ukhas/a-yAnQV5BFc" target="_blank">UKHAS Google Group</a> in the few weeks prior to launch so we had lots of people willing to help track. See below for a break down - thanks to all those mentioned!<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX94lWp6nYFZfEaVdcJ73beOVVXIRjihU6VyngeDdt5bCRDJPeTJGPTCWfRLDM6-YGM-QsdL1aHhwaFsvKuTV8JRW4cXwMacrEgrRKsJvtyQXcYWoxq9uH6dNOudn2Iy2vXuy87bbrCI0/s1600/Tracker+Pie.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="STRATODEAN One Trackers" border="0" height="236" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX94lWp6nYFZfEaVdcJ73beOVVXIRjihU6VyngeDdt5bCRDJPeTJGPTCWfRLDM6-YGM-QsdL1aHhwaFsvKuTV8JRW4cXwMacrEgrRKsJvtyQXcYWoxq9uH6dNOudn2Iy2vXuy87bbrCI0/s320/Tracker+Pie.JPG" title="STRATODEAN One Trackers" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">People tracking our payload</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
We were forced to stop our own in-car tracking to save the laptop battery (in-car changer blew a fuse!) so your help was essential for us to keep an eye on the balloon trajectory and predicted landing site.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGqe1ZybxjdofreTkLAF62_fxMzxj5YMoA65p2rNC7HpyUGxIki-nDkjk6l_im7nhlzkFmG746QQJIfuH6yuVnIdKWxwFnOgGnaDxxagJ1MQJi0VVO2jqrb3U2dvumdnuStcINpqZT5V8/s1600/Image.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="STRATODEAN Signal being received" border="0" height="86" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGqe1ZybxjdofreTkLAF62_fxMzxj5YMoA65p2rNC7HpyUGxIki-nDkjk6l_im7nhlzkFmG746QQJIfuH6yuVnIdKWxwFnOgGnaDxxagJ1MQJi0VVO2jqrb3U2dvumdnuStcINpqZT5V8/s400/Image.jpg" title="STRATODEAN Signal being received" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Signal being received</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Some of the most positive feedback from our flight was that the signal did not drift off frequency. In real terms this means that our radio transmitter kept very close to the advertised 434.650MHz and was not adversely affected by temperature. This also meant that tracking was easier as radios did not have to continually be retuned. We received a nice email from new 'HABer' Martin Rigby who was kind enough to show us a screen shot of the signal as received by his radio in Penrith, Cumbria. You can see that the RTTY lines are fairly straight.<br />
<br />
We also had an email from fellow HABer Geoff Mather who was able to create <a href="http://360.g8dhe.net/hab_flights/STRATODEAN/STRATODEAN2.html" target="_blank">this interactive flight movie</a> in Google Earth based on the telemetry that we had been transmitting. Thank you Geoff!<br />
<br />
The raw telemetry that was saved onto the SD card from the transmitter can be seen <a href="https://github.com/stratodean/Tracker/blob/master/STRATODEAN%20One%20Tracker%20Log" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
<br />
Since the launch we have put things on the back burner for a week, just to reflect on what we have achieved and to think about a few other (non-space!) ideas. However, it's now time to start resetting ourselves and the project and working out what we can do better for STRATODEAN Two!<br />
<br />
In our second launch we'd like to do a few things differently. The first launch was a success but there are some improvements to be made. Firstly we aren't entirely happy with our video quality when the payload reached the stratosphere. We included the GoPro anti-fog inserts thinking that this would help us avoid the misting in our videos, however we now know this caused the exact opposite to happen. The waterproof case let air out but did not let air in, so a vacuum formed inside. As we all remember from our <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9q5gEZGoBnk" target="_blank">science lessons</a>(!), water boils at a much lower temperature inside a vacuum, so inside our case, the moisture that had been collected by the anti-fog inserts started to boil and then condensed on to the coldest part of the case - the lens cover pointing out into space! To remedy this we are simply going to fly without inserts or a lens cover and have holes in the case so that no vacuum can form.<br />
<br />
We had no idea from the first launch how hot/cold it was up there, so another thing that we have acquired are temperature sensors that we can wire into our flight tracker so that it will record these values for us.<br />
<br />
Finally, something we are trying to research for next time is adding time, velocity and altitude data to our flight videos - currently a work in progress trying to find the best software. We had people comment on the video 'how high are we now' at certain points, so it would be nice to have a little 'Head-Up Display' on the video to display this data.<br />
<br />
We have applied for CAA approval and extended our helium rental so it's just a case of completing our upgrades and waiting for good weather!Mark and Cassiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00946072836046667968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8843670193991296554.post-80152352804611802472013-04-29T17:34:00.000+01:002013-04-29T22:48:51.411+01:00STRATODEAN One<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Here's our video of STRATODEAN One - don't forget to view in HD! The photos are at the bottom of this page.</div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwD3yF-uYa5UuExSutLjJMmkONe_AOtkE70nAXZK2oVFvHrMdNxg-kGI84_RzHqe5zKpRkQSEruo6f-goinMZbm_X_dU7UOX7zkjaVVJHcJwG3ydhxdPJ3xIvYztBzNWC91RnGG7pa6xo/s1600/Photo+21-04-2013+07+39+27+AM+%2528Mark+Ireland%2527s+conflicted+copy+2013-04-26%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="STRATODEAN Go for launch" border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwD3yF-uYa5UuExSutLjJMmkONe_AOtkE70nAXZK2oVFvHrMdNxg-kGI84_RzHqe5zKpRkQSEruo6f-goinMZbm_X_dU7UOX7zkjaVVJHcJwG3ydhxdPJ3xIvYztBzNWC91RnGG7pa6xo/s200/Photo+21-04-2013+07+39+27+AM+%2528Mark+Ireland%2527s+conflicted+copy+2013-04-26%2529.jpg" title="STRATODEAN Go for launch" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Go for launch</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
After six months of planning, one abandoned launch due to weather conditions and a borderline traumatising GPS tracker 'butterfingers' incident, Sunday 21st April saw the launch of our first payload, conveniently named STRATODEAN One. Despite rather a rather pessimistic weather forecast predicting cloud, cloud and more cloud, Team STRATODEAN remained hopeful. As long as the launch prediction and wind conditions were sensible, we were going for it.
<br />
The first look out the window at 7:00am revealed a decent bit of blue<br />
sky and the conditions were good so we were all systems go.<br />
<br />
Our launch strategy delegated balloon filling over to Mark's Dad and brother, while we were based in Launch HQ (which may look suspiciously like a patio table with a laptop on).<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBHpQX9v3qSCE9jbi1AJgQBH47cy3jPmHuQ6PKZg09ikD6hhwU_qsU6HFOFmQ5WkYZXRmdieffoOdhnVF4ETc5c9Hg9k-0YDPFK_NhvSehSdz2ECUr_CIqgqgNVA_4WnunfEuaUnWsIzE/s1600/IMG_0439.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="STRATODEAN Launch HQ" border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBHpQX9v3qSCE9jbi1AJgQBH47cy3jPmHuQ6PKZg09ikD6hhwU_qsU6HFOFmQ5WkYZXRmdieffoOdhnVF4ETc5c9Hg9k-0YDPFK_NhvSehSdz2ECUr_CIqgqgNVA_4WnunfEuaUnWsIzE/s320/IMG_0439.JPG" title="STRATODEAN Launch HQ" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Launch HQ.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrlEvWsSqB6AkkTa14_kgSVeUqQbmzTcH3XRA2gf7Di6PuTvBWYwx-iZfQRJL7HbAFESS85eCmgg-CRP-PWi2uiVq_k8Xa00wsimpBAWwC3kwpcxQsOc5OtVEiH-oDqlGvKxJotZkZmVY/s1600/IMG_1059.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="STRATODEAN Balloon with custom made filling device!" border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrlEvWsSqB6AkkTa14_kgSVeUqQbmzTcH3XRA2gf7Di6PuTvBWYwx-iZfQRJL7HbAFESS85eCmgg-CRP-PWi2uiVq_k8Xa00wsimpBAWwC3kwpcxQsOc5OtVEiH-oDqlGvKxJotZkZmVY/s320/IMG_1059.JPG" title="STRATODEAN Balloon with custom made filling device!" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Balloon with custom made filling device!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVJ3EwP_eaqyFBq5KYEfVf13cS8svTwRfr_PRpucP4RFhxzosekXR4UXddzvrhXi5DzbBQ7tAEq3u9X3nLHE1m83TylN8gPiGnNK-DG3vxmCXxcaistrySxzKWA5Ihq1nc_2hDHQfS54A/s1600/IMG_0428.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="STRATODEAN Payload preparations" border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVJ3EwP_eaqyFBq5KYEfVf13cS8svTwRfr_PRpucP4RFhxzosekXR4UXddzvrhXi5DzbBQ7tAEq3u9X3nLHE1m83TylN8gPiGnNK-DG3vxmCXxcaistrySxzKWA5Ihq1nc_2hDHQfS54A/s320/IMG_0428.JPG" title="STRATODEAN Payload preparations" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Payload preparations.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirOfzLaJ63KIV0NuTizeHrLOZzQRWNa9vstIzp9AftFTnaLGskBZlqiiUCwsNtzOWRSYR9a2B78yHs-WLppxDoIV71Nh0z2gWuvWyMtOlBdJvo7T4gxLYEQrNE2p31Hlhxrm5A4kTc7zw/s1600/IMG_0460.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="STRATODEAN Everything in its place, including a sneaky photo" border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirOfzLaJ63KIV0NuTizeHrLOZzQRWNa9vstIzp9AftFTnaLGskBZlqiiUCwsNtzOWRSYR9a2B78yHs-WLppxDoIV71Nh0z2gWuvWyMtOlBdJvo7T4gxLYEQrNE2p31Hlhxrm5A4kTc7zw/s320/IMG_0460.JPG" title="STRATODEAN Everything in its place, including a sneaky photo" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Everything in its place, including a sneaky photo.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
Over 30 close family and friends came out to watch, which meant we had plenty of young volunteers when it came to the launch. A big thank you to those who came out to support us!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpD2r2It9IDBtukYaPP-q06792oCe1jnqtlGYZMtfGlX5p2nz48whcpcCxPEZm0R8LAhpt9dWmrdDZ1WNwtAf639BmxgSvwmadwIg68vyNDaVrIV9UmXA4y8rHCGQiGdCikdwHhpScDgc/s1600/IMG_0478.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="STRATODEAN Nearly time for launch!" border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpD2r2It9IDBtukYaPP-q06792oCe1jnqtlGYZMtfGlX5p2nz48whcpcCxPEZm0R8LAhpt9dWmrdDZ1WNwtAf639BmxgSvwmadwIg68vyNDaVrIV9UmXA4y8rHCGQiGdCikdwHhpScDgc/s640/IMG_0478.JPG" title="STRATODEAN Nearly time for launch!" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nearly time for launch!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFNncKj_9ZVqDUlIbFDL70y7t_OJWIkP9ghiXGIsfN4BLUNMJ1J0IBbP97wr7-Cyc27TuKL-fVtNCQE0LkIlH2ecYGar8AmuIgXHzpSmGxn5hDFfH14kXfh8J2Pi3SMi5Fq1HUgKav8co/s1600/IMG_5627.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="STRATODEAN A shady bunch" border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFNncKj_9ZVqDUlIbFDL70y7t_OJWIkP9ghiXGIsfN4BLUNMJ1J0IBbP97wr7-Cyc27TuKL-fVtNCQE0LkIlH2ecYGar8AmuIgXHzpSmGxn5hDFfH14kXfh8J2Pi3SMi5Fq1HUgKav8co/s320/IMG_5627.JPG" title="STRATODEAN A shady bunch" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A shady bunch.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbQAMLjKTCRwNRZcLGxRaI0-uGf1mSul0t9NrF_bmGaDR7oacE6f0VF03XfSL0c-HfrCom3e1_Neb_tCx13ufhmCXbe0ISRdwIYdStiQc8fwLrYuxErsNTItD94wRjYfNONi1EtqBurQQ/s1600/IMG_0452.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="STRATODEAN Cakes for the punters" border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbQAMLjKTCRwNRZcLGxRaI0-uGf1mSul0t9NrF_bmGaDR7oacE6f0VF03XfSL0c-HfrCom3e1_Neb_tCx13ufhmCXbe0ISRdwIYdStiQc8fwLrYuxErsNTItD94wRjYfNONi1EtqBurQQ/s320/IMG_0452.JPG" title="STRATODEAN Cakes for the punters" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cake for the punters.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjH6twucxSIZT1fl7XrZE_E1reOSAPNEQlW8gH866Ad5rSR4kBqnAYSDJ_V9BmY3i7usJ5KAfCyIVcjPikFE7ewhwWvQfzrxi1jJivBKLJjl-40yThF5FhMzsozDTDiUcdZtSyvwI4ZveE/s1600/IMG_5641.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="STRATODEAN Holding on tight" border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjH6twucxSIZT1fl7XrZE_E1reOSAPNEQlW8gH866Ad5rSR4kBqnAYSDJ_V9BmY3i7usJ5KAfCyIVcjPikFE7ewhwWvQfzrxi1jJivBKLJjl-40yThF5FhMzsozDTDiUcdZtSyvwI4ZveE/s320/IMG_5641.jpg" title="STRATODEAN Holding on tight" width="212" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Holding on tight.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="float: left; width: 200px;"><br /><br />
STRATODEAN One launched just before 10.15am from Coleford, Gloucestershire and landed approximately 2.5 hours later, over 100 miles away, in a field outside of Milton Keynes. Our payload, or as one kind gentleman generously referred to it as, our "spacecraft" reached a maximum altitude of 32,127m (105,000 feet) and was tracked by 43 different receivers scattered across the UK and Europe while on its journey. We will follow this post with another detailing some more technical facts and figures.</span><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_kqAfrp9BrL_YnpZoe4HTzf0V16IgWJTa3DcLf29lao3kNh0SCDkr8Asy3JBGfNoDcmQA3Gn8Op4VG3tPzYQ_qKxy8olq8lnFDNjCo3ggMuWXv853f8Qn7zfsOuMuSJy8jxk7rzG5H-0/s1600/IMG_5652.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="STRATODEAN Lift off" border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_kqAfrp9BrL_YnpZoe4HTzf0V16IgWJTa3DcLf29lao3kNh0SCDkr8Asy3JBGfNoDcmQA3Gn8Op4VG3tPzYQ_qKxy8olq8lnFDNjCo3ggMuWXv853f8Qn7zfsOuMuSJy8jxk7rzG5H-0/s320/IMG_5652.jpg" title="STRATODEAN Lift off" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lift off!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
What went well:<br />
<ul>
<li>Many people tracking commented on the strong, clear signal which was great news, therefore we were happy with the quality of our aerial.</li>
<li>We were pleased with the photos from the Canon camera and that we managed to capture lots of aerial photos of our local area (see album at bottom of page).</li>
<li>Great launch day atmosphere.</li>
<li>The ascent and decent rates were as predicted. </li>
</ul>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5c7l6M4hEEOvcOT5uuQEpVkM0J6CX5V1Vh-AfnjmzwuI-4rSBUxhwoAf7MiKQN3YZAW10kuhphqJeVgABIv6i_JITo3CsA86GGtg21sH4kpEWXhYr8ISVGS-t3v80N2psU2uuyDdas6s/s1600/IMG_5660.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="STRATODEAN Payload recovered" border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5c7l6M4hEEOvcOT5uuQEpVkM0J6CX5V1Vh-AfnjmzwuI-4rSBUxhwoAf7MiKQN3YZAW10kuhphqJeVgABIv6i_JITo3CsA86GGtg21sH4kpEWXhYr8ISVGS-t3v80N2psU2uuyDdas6s/s320/IMG_5660.jpg" title="STRATODEAN Payload recovered" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Payload recovered.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1yLa2GCtMRSJ_YumYZq2cF4KR9ULhIjVl3KXRogpv-Dpbg_Lig8_f2wbo55rR8f54hiQiRQotfpkgVtf1zQK0O4tQLiMl1OlOv8eKNAM8w3y093f3H3zr-_N-jo_pHPmRdndYke5EyEs/s1600/Photo+21-04-2013+01+51+43+PM+%2528Mark+Ireland%2527s+conflicted+copy+2013-04-26%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="STRATODEAN Tracker and camera" border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1yLa2GCtMRSJ_YumYZq2cF4KR9ULhIjVl3KXRogpv-Dpbg_Lig8_f2wbo55rR8f54hiQiRQotfpkgVtf1zQK0O4tQLiMl1OlOv8eKNAM8w3y093f3H3zr-_N-jo_pHPmRdndYke5EyEs/s320/Photo+21-04-2013+01+51+43+PM+%2528Mark+Ireland%2527s+conflicted+copy+2013-04-26%2529.jpg" title="STRATODEAN Tracker and camera" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The tracker and camera still going strong!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
As always, there have been lessons learnt and things we'd change for the future. Room for improvement:<br />
<ul>
<li>Despite (and in fact due to) using anti-fog inserts, condensation formed within the GoPro casing, clouding the lens. For future launches, we will consider launching the GoPro without the protective case.</li>
<li>Now that we have a lot of downward-facing photos, next time we could use two side-mounted cameras.</li>
<li>Use some black tape around the GoPro-shaped tapered hole in our payload box. Some of the footage taken into direct sunlight had a blue haze due to light reflecting from the polystyrene into the lens.</li>
<li>We could have packed up our equipment and left the launch site a little quicker to begin the chase. </li>
<li>Check all cameras (on the ground and up in the air) are set to film at the same frame rate!</li>
<li>Ideally, we would not have forgotten to attach our contact details and information label onto the box!</li>
<li>It was noted by some trackers that they were losing the beginnings of our early transmissions. To remedy this, we should remove the 1000ms gap between transmissions.</li>
<li>The backup tracker did not work at all! Will need to investigate this and decide whether it is worth including next time.</li>
</ul>
Take a look at our STRATODEAN One Launch video at the top of this page and our Payload Camera album below. Let us know if you can see your house!<br />
<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/106344441677510134125/STRATODEANOneStillCamera?authuser=0&feat=directlink" imageanchor="1">CLICK HERE FOR PAYLOAD PHOTO ALBUM<br /><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiXvLy0wIxiSS6MQTXtoaM1tz5bB8nqYZXkhDEq_DtqD-kxCLVpcHGMbEuaajxmXp6A6uCEhyphenhyphenxYpQDaGxeXEMD0_pdzSYAtvv9d1_McrBzv8NsT5GdLgeq1EhGezLOWC5wGZRycnF8GJY/s320/IMG_6153.JPG" /></a>
</div>
Mark and Cassiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00946072836046667968noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8843670193991296554.post-26303672182399535152013-04-24T09:00:00.000+01:002013-05-01T19:32:02.167+01:00We made the paper - again!<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFzJyzyNcMX9Fn0vwunuKW8qz_2wLHeoEXPQE0nI-6Gs6hOGJL5kZBE1j7NNRAdiNbXvY5PWnOD4xwTnP5jhdT7KokgvZS_MDZ-h2mohR87GPOsMAeZcgSmq4-HcB6qPyK9PMVruLI_fY/s1600/IMG_0003.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="STRATODEAN Forest Citizen" border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFzJyzyNcMX9Fn0vwunuKW8qz_2wLHeoEXPQE0nI-6Gs6hOGJL5kZBE1j7NNRAdiNbXvY5PWnOD4xwTnP5jhdT7KokgvZS_MDZ-h2mohR87GPOsMAeZcgSmq4-HcB6qPyK9PMVruLI_fY/s640/IMG_0003.jpg" title="STRATODEAN Forest Citizen" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our follow up article in the Forest Citizen.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />Mark and Cassiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00946072836046667968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8843670193991296554.post-57966802818461125582013-04-21T22:50:00.000+01:002013-04-21T22:54:39.667+01:00We did it!So today we launched and recovered our first ever high altitude balloon with payload! We have hundreds of photos and a few hours of videos to get through and process, but we thought we'd share with you the first few good ones!<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Thank you very much to all that came to watch and support the launch and to our families who have helped and supported us so much during planning, launch and recovery. Also thank you to the guys at <a href="http://ukhas.org.uk/" target="_blank">UKHAS</a> for your help and advice. We had people all over the UK helping us track and even further afield in France, Belgium and Holland!</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEWMVrQwyql_2se-yvLKHCGxeuBk249CEufE0TLeCPgKRCmPQ6HvMax1LQDk5_0SCiqVBrRuuJs8l3ZKs-ke7-vC6dYh2F3u9SQo32cpcUCJ-bu-EOzRtPSc3CcBjrtCO_rC3l5LNfUQM/s1600/IMG_5637.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="STRATODEAN Mark Ireland Cassie Phelps Balloon" border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEWMVrQwyql_2se-yvLKHCGxeuBk249CEufE0TLeCPgKRCmPQ6HvMax1LQDk5_0SCiqVBrRuuJs8l3ZKs-ke7-vC6dYh2F3u9SQo32cpcUCJ-bu-EOzRtPSc3CcBjrtCO_rC3l5LNfUQM/s400/IMG_5637.jpg" title="STRATODEAN Mark Ireland Cassie Phelps Balloon" width="266" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Before the Launch!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbUT359wi9HPnVr4IuyYH1qW_18YYR0DQ_otGEpWmOPzjuf9JulBiyukVm_3d8LBr_fK3A_E6VH74HHXmu4J8g7UsQqBGCca8znptMHFPNIqsY21hFFTcNm5iL8XlpZlTpqy6SRdselIo/s1600/IMG_5638.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="STRATODEAN Helpers" border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbUT359wi9HPnVr4IuyYH1qW_18YYR0DQ_otGEpWmOPzjuf9JulBiyukVm_3d8LBr_fK3A_E6VH74HHXmu4J8g7UsQqBGCca8znptMHFPNIqsY21hFFTcNm5iL8XlpZlTpqy6SRdselIo/s320/IMG_5638.JPG" title="STRATODEAN Helpers" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We had some helpers! </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgs3tqqC_Eh6USHbGFLSLgU4k7OXMeKewUvieij0fNryUuZxkH4nC3O5JYOUdKkdspGvIH_J-P929qq1L3s-3WypN7aaEmr_ia4wnICtGbAKphCJha6kWCuPmw60Pd07svEwKChXX9D5Eo/s1600/Coleford.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="STRATODEAN Coleford" border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgs3tqqC_Eh6USHbGFLSLgU4k7OXMeKewUvieij0fNryUuZxkH4nC3O5JYOUdKkdspGvIH_J-P929qq1L3s-3WypN7aaEmr_ia4wnICtGbAKphCJha6kWCuPmw60Pd07svEwKChXX9D5Eo/s400/Coleford.jpg" title="STRATODEAN Coleford" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our hometown - Coleford, Gloucestershire.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5V_tpUmD4LYc2Q4k_ESZErbMBB1i4KtMeOKgKGQ2nHms6Bdty5ew_JKZf6s6TWzYS0gpordDN9FV9bA7LUP7muoeVyPEk0__om-87GOOlW7b0FpEXcY-MttJf0pytpxeJ7d2zliQAx58/s1600/IMG_6163.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="STRATODEAN Five Acres" border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5V_tpUmD4LYc2Q4k_ESZErbMBB1i4KtMeOKgKGQ2nHms6Bdty5ew_JKZf6s6TWzYS0gpordDN9FV9bA7LUP7muoeVyPEk0__om-87GOOlW7b0FpEXcY-MttJf0pytpxeJ7d2zliQAx58/s400/IMG_6163.JPG" title="STRATODEAN Five Acres" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Five Acres, Coleford.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhw8yYtA-faKBelENCKvDvi1ttkMgTgKm3RMIKQ2pKAg3Xd_qm3IcnL82h4NM5-sbTzEsU8YQ-a74BEwYbJPhTEQFpM01QaQIZvDglpIb7NFkXEJ8QnBsddT0xBcyO68k5dAyDb_vfk__E/s1600/Stratosphere.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="STRATODEAN Stratosphere" border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhw8yYtA-faKBelENCKvDvi1ttkMgTgKm3RMIKQ2pKAg3Xd_qm3IcnL82h4NM5-sbTzEsU8YQ-a74BEwYbJPhTEQFpM01QaQIZvDglpIb7NFkXEJ8QnBsddT0xBcyO68k5dAyDb_vfk__E/s400/Stratosphere.jpg" title="STRATODEAN Stratosphere" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We made it to the stratosphere! </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7VtpiMjkT3GeCgj9ypH-3ypJXjB4oxAw8NRMPKLSn9RCCVaJMu9gs8hp4tq7-4CJEsxjGH9s-sDUMpNQo2PGSTdNDASpfxeQbqX0lickef-8i_erNlN7ihRwFXzeauSDmvDd5I7SsvGI/s1600/IMG_7802.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="STRATODEAN Housing estate" border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7VtpiMjkT3GeCgj9ypH-3ypJXjB4oxAw8NRMPKLSn9RCCVaJMu9gs8hp4tq7-4CJEsxjGH9s-sDUMpNQo2PGSTdNDASpfxeQbqX0lickef-8i_erNlN7ihRwFXzeauSDmvDd5I7SsvGI/s400/IMG_7802.JPG" title="STRATODEAN Housing estate" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The housing estate we just missed before landing!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7L6noBhJspI7YnA2-lj3fk6EWo6LNgT15sqgeWTtxceqVdxN9rx4u6-2tvk8U-715UXQnLYmEKGxlRrdNe6zylgQTpuWZhhz8HFcinMwJK3AVeU8iRcGUk4Kz7GO7_851m3rh_257aR4/s1600/IMG_5661.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="STRATODEAN Recovery" border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7L6noBhJspI7YnA2-lj3fk6EWo6LNgT15sqgeWTtxceqVdxN9rx4u6-2tvk8U-715UXQnLYmEKGxlRrdNe6zylgQTpuWZhhz8HFcinMwJK3AVeU8iRcGUk4Kz7GO7_851m3rh_257aR4/s400/IMG_5661.JPG" title="STRATODEAN Recovery" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is how we found it!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Mark and Cassiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00946072836046667968noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8843670193991296554.post-1232551826655036102013-04-20T21:30:00.000+01:002013-04-20T21:30:07.866+01:00Tomorrow is Launch DayAfter 6 months of hard work, launch day is nearly upon us! We have spent today doing our final checks, tying parachutes to cord and making sure we are prepared for tomorrow.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh68SFKLXd1QU8Q_6gL6D4Z7ZnnQllDLrdYWtUDen_Hx8cCacVBB3ZtREcAM5SG0BSGhTongTjgasE4_nE5RQadvT-1oMd7wsAlyaUICkKgfw2HHHEcT2yk54H1MaHtA5cYsYGsgoNYLUI/s1600/IMG_0961.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="STRATODEAN Payload - Mark Ireland" border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh68SFKLXd1QU8Q_6gL6D4Z7ZnnQllDLrdYWtUDen_Hx8cCacVBB3ZtREcAM5SG0BSGhTongTjgasE4_nE5RQadvT-1oMd7wsAlyaUICkKgfw2HHHEcT2yk54H1MaHtA5cYsYGsgoNYLUI/s320/IMG_0961.jpg" title="STRATODEAN Payload - Mark Ireland" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Payload ready for lift off.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Don't forget you can track the progress of the balloon yourself by going to <a href="http://spacenear.us/tracker">spacenear.us/tracker</a> in the morning. Lift off is 10am. Hopefully everything goes to plan and we get some nice photos and video!<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiY7P2s_toNceHr0V1GXqK0_2mb3EyqIqO-oBXUFSGT4Uesih2Y76F6tTctfmRYUDYtJHPbDLXZUhHydsgqR9m2gHYnUEbSgLJO_52tgz6SMdd5LwX4wGlp3NvUJ6jQhArzgQzOqZo5Za0/s1600/Screen+Shot+2013-04-20+at+21.27.31.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="STRATODEAN Flight Prediction" border="0" height="289" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiY7P2s_toNceHr0V1GXqK0_2mb3EyqIqO-oBXUFSGT4Uesih2Y76F6tTctfmRYUDYtJHPbDLXZUhHydsgqR9m2gHYnUEbSgLJO_52tgz6SMdd5LwX4wGlp3NvUJ6jQhArzgQzOqZo5Za0/s320/Screen+Shot+2013-04-20+at+21.27.31.png" title="STRATODEAN Flight Prediction" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tomorrows Flight Prediction</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
This looks a lot more manageable than <a href="http://www.stratodean.co.uk/2013/04/stratodean-launch-postponed.html" target="_blank">last weeks prediction</a>!Mark and Cassiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00946072836046667968noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8843670193991296554.post-30722091912495991822013-04-14T20:20:00.000+01:002013-04-14T21:01:44.376+01:00The GPS TrackerWhen we launch our payload we will need to know exactly where it is in the sky in order to follow and recover it. It is important then, to have a tracker that will give timely and accurate information to us on the ground about where it is and where it's heading. We decided in the early weeks of the project to use a radio based tracker, the kind that most high altitude balloon enthusiasts use, to track our balloon. There were a few reasons for this - it was proven technology, the radio infrastructure existed for balloon tracking and it would be a good challenge in itself to build a GPS tracker - something that we had no experience in before!<br />
<br />
At the very start of the project we had no idea of the community and infrastructure that exists to enable balloon launchers to track their payloads as they fly through sky. A full and extensive explanation can he found on the <a href="http://ukhas.org.uk/guides:tracking_guide" target="_blank">UKHAS Wiki</a> - definitely worth a read to gain a real understanding of what is going on. In a nutshell however:<br />
<ul>
<li>Either via the <a href="http://webchat.freenode.net/?channels=highaltitude" target="_blank">#highaltitude</a> channel on freenode IRC or the <a href="http://groups.google.com/group/ukhas" target="_blank">UKHAS Google Group</a>, you let the community know of a future balloon launch. At this point it is important to know what transmitting frequency you will be using and the frequency shift you will be using to distinguish between a binary 0 and 1.</li>
<li>At the stated day and time, enthusiasts over the country listen out for the radio signal being transmitted from the balloon payload.</li>
<li>Using their receivers and computer software, they decode the GPS telemetry from the radio signal and upload this information to a central server, which then plots the balloon on the <a href="http://spacenear.us/tracker">spacenear.us/tracker</a> for the whole Internet to see.</li>
<li>This has been going on for a few years!</li>
</ul>
<h3>
Components and code</h3>
There are two main parts to it, the <a href="http://arduino.cc/en/Main/ArduinoBoardUno" target="_blank">Arduino Uno</a> prefabricated board at the bottom and our arrangement of components soldered onto stripboard fitted on top. On the left of the board with the black blob antenna is the GPS receiver, the silver box is the radio transmitter with its additional SMA antenna connector, the flat component in the middle is an SD card reader and finally 6 AA Energizer Lithium batteries on the right to power it all. There are various LEDs and resistors also needed to complete the circuit - see the Wiki links below. It took a good few months to go from initial research to a fully working tracker! The computer (Arduino) needs to be programmed in order to get things working, you aren't able to just plug things in an expect it to work. The program works as follows:<br />
<ol><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPfYpXMxexboluLAAD9Y66bv_M3gDm0WmklVjQW6pijeaKz1L9XrPCH9Ny8jQV9ol6ZYxO6kUCIhb4K-St0oNoyqFTCTR4PxzDaOMCzvcsMX7t-WO_JCsttzB5Fc-5XE2LI2POvqUqV7A/s1600/2013-01-30+20.29.18.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="STRATODEAN - GPS Tracker" border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPfYpXMxexboluLAAD9Y66bv_M3gDm0WmklVjQW6pijeaKz1L9XrPCH9Ny8jQV9ol6ZYxO6kUCIhb4K-St0oNoyqFTCTR4PxzDaOMCzvcsMX7t-WO_JCsttzB5Fc-5XE2LI2POvqUqV7A/s320/2013-01-30+20.29.18.jpg" title="STRATODEAN - GPS Tracker" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our GPS Tracker</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<li>Arduino is initially powered up and does a check of all components to ensure that it can use them.</li>
<li>It asks the GPS for location information - it returns lots of information including latitude, longitude, altitude and number of satellites it can see in a text format known as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NMEA_0183" target="_blank">NMEA</a>.</li>
<li>The program extracts the useful bits of data that we need and puts it into a text format that <a href="http://ukhas.org.uk/communication:protocol" target="_blank">UKHAS is expecting</a>.</li>
<li>The text string has a mathematical calculation performed on it, known as a checksum. This works out a four character sequence that must be added to the end of our string. When our string is received by the UKHAS listeners, their computer will do the same calculation - if the four characters match then they can be sure that the data they have received is how it was originally transmitted by the tracker.</li>
<li>The whole string is then divided into its individual characters and the binary version of each character is sent over <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radioteletype" target="_blank">RTTY</a> radio transmission by alternating the frequency about a particular wavelength (434MHz - unlicensed and free to use in the UK). This alternating creates the binary code for the string which is then decoded by the receivers.</li>
<li>Saves a record of the text onto the SD card to act as a 'black box flight recorder'.</li>
<li>Repeat steps 2 - 6 until the battery runs out!</li>
</ol>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinVnTQp8FAUXG4HG0UKkgHZqRqBHEH-TiJGNLYZPYNhSDIlz2SihWv7OH5XRGRsgQ55z1EHvTDFKDseZll-7vM4_uEBLwEFHI3OD6hvPmkbSg0fnM58uT4UQISYmCbIRA8dNMxMRpfXvE/s1600/IMG_1569.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="STRATODEAN - Initial prototyping" border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinVnTQp8FAUXG4HG0UKkgHZqRqBHEH-TiJGNLYZPYNhSDIlz2SihWv7OH5XRGRsgQ55z1EHvTDFKDseZll-7vM4_uEBLwEFHI3OD6hvPmkbSg0fnM58uT4UQISYmCbIRA8dNMxMRpfXvE/s320/IMG_1569.JPG" title="STRATODEAN - Initial prototyping" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Initial prototyping</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
When you start out on building your tracker you are always pointed to this tutorial, so we shall do the same: <a href="http://ukhas.org.uk/guides:linkingarduinotontx2" target="_blank">ukhas.org.uk/guides:linkingarduinotontx2</a>. This contains everything you need to get you started on sending data over radio using an Arduino and as I found, a nice easy way to get started on C++. We started out with just the NTX2 radio transmitter on a breadboard and wires going to the Arduino.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKQ8fi8bENaSrbfw8auqymCJYTYtATSddhALbgpMqTkBlRNqHSnPL5lZmsM_rpV3Q33m5vlhDiO0yZTtimt2mhdmHq-LPVT3mnCAsA7_6-NSAVk4qDPK04mJ26gCsNu3PxvBHXoL4GVRc/s1600/IMG_1570.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="STRATODEAN - First radio transmissions" border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKQ8fi8bENaSrbfw8auqymCJYTYtATSddhALbgpMqTkBlRNqHSnPL5lZmsM_rpV3Q33m5vlhDiO0yZTtimt2mhdmHq-LPVT3mnCAsA7_6-NSAVk4qDPK04mJ26gCsNu3PxvBHXoL4GVRc/s320/IMG_1570.JPG" title="STRATODEAN - First radio transmissions" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">First radio transmissions</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
In very little time we were able to send simple text message strings over the air and decode them at the other end. In the image you can see the Arduino IDE used to program the board on the right and on the left, <a href="http://ukhas.org.uk/guides:tracking_guide" target="_blank">dl-fldigi</a> the program used to decode the radio signal. Whilst it's not important to know every detail of how radio transmission works, it is important to know the boundaries in which you can operate. Here in the UK we have 433MHz - 434MHz in which to operate radio transmissions without needing a licence. In order to facilitate this easily, the Radiometrix NTX2 that we are using comes in two preset frequences 434.075MHz and 434.650MHz. Both work in the same way but it is important that you know which one you have - there is a handy label on the side!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7nTnl64QTVIh9RIkkN6pPlf5fWLJ1Y-0EvBj6k200Vrp9EEnV1DSWSPKoRLzW-PxrCHapSHvkEprnYgb9W8taotQ5Sx37rrg1sXJe73Yt0FcqdRBmZowXVQ9Jo3a-du1tQG2e_c24mZI/s1600/IMG_1575.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="STRATODEAN - Prototyping GPS" border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7nTnl64QTVIh9RIkkN6pPlf5fWLJ1Y-0EvBj6k200Vrp9EEnV1DSWSPKoRLzW-PxrCHapSHvkEprnYgb9W8taotQ5Sx37rrg1sXJe73Yt0FcqdRBmZowXVQ9Jo3a-du1tQG2e_c24mZI/s320/IMG_1575.JPG" title="STRATODEAN - Prototyping GPS" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Prototyping GPS</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Once we were happy that we could generate the required RTTY signal using the Arduino and radio transmitter, we then moved on to the second integral part of the tracker - the GPS receiver. Again there is a brilliant guide put together on the UKHAS Wiki page that helped with getting this started: <a href="http://ukhas.org.uk/guides:ublox6" target="_blank">ukhas.org.uk/guides:ublox6</a>. Initially I just soldered some wires into the GPS breakout board and plugged them into the Arduino and hoped everything would work as described, it didn't. The GPS was powering up but we were not getting any data back from the unit. The main reason for this is that this GPS unit with its passive antenna doesn't really work indoors! A quick dash outside with the laptop proved everything was working as expected.<br />
<br />
It took a long while and a was a bit of a learning curve to start getting meaningful data back from the GPS. What gave us confidence however was that we were able to use the u-blox <a href="http://www.u-blox.com/en/evaluation-tools-a-software/u-center/u-center.html" target="_blank">u-centre GPS evaluation software</a> almost immediately. Connecting through the Arduino, we could see ourselves plotted on the map and where the satellites were located in the sky - interesting stuff and if you are doing this yourself, definitely download this software!<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2poYbdPH4dbAi8-UAC-ocL5hA7xJfsySgsS_Wv30bROgLrJply-w1Gd9IhPLyA-ciVPsrV3DLbgHlMaYPh99jYpwW_g3YVClLYS1nhrs47TVT4FLarwj5eSMWXJaWVf_lvQKeJpQQf34/s1600/IMG_1621.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="STRATODEAN - Prototyping GPS and radio" border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2poYbdPH4dbAi8-UAC-ocL5hA7xJfsySgsS_Wv30bROgLrJply-w1Gd9IhPLyA-ciVPsrV3DLbgHlMaYPh99jYpwW_g3YVClLYS1nhrs47TVT4FLarwj5eSMWXJaWVf_lvQKeJpQQf34/s320/IMG_1621.JPG" title="STRATODEAN - Prototyping GPS and radio" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The radio and GPS on the same breadboard for the first time</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Once we were happy that the GPS was automatically sending us accurate GPS coordinates and we were able to see these using the Arduino, it was time to try and combine the radio with it. There are a few people who have done this before so using the examples out there really helped get something 'working'. It is not OK though, to just get these examples, program your Arduino with them and hope things will work. It is paramount that you understand exactly what is happening on every line of the code. As well as having a knowledge of how it all works, you will feel much more satisfied! <a href="https://github.com/stratodean/Tracker" target="_blank">All of our code is available on our GitHub repository</a>. Feel free to use as you wish. It is commented so hopefully should be pretty self explanatory. One thing that did trip us up and worth noting here, was that when using the built-in Software Serial, we were finding that half of the string was getting truncated. This is because of the buffer size in the Software Serial library. Changing this to 128 solved the problem.<br />
<br />
We later added the SD card and this also caused problems - especially with RAM. Turns out, simply referencing the SD library causes a whole load of RAM to be used up. I then set about making the code more efficient (encasing all strings in the <a href="http://playground.arduino.cc/Learning/Memory" target="_blank">F() function</a> for example) and using the FreeRam function.<br />
<br />
<h3>
Final solution</h3>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0aYf_DW5TVxka4vZuK2G3jmK8iDwE830Dt7v74GBWfzkC32XA4vxr2-8bZy4E3Lvw0t9zvu37TKXxVSSeKDcASdsty6y21J7AEooL6bELR9TLFuKUZWwcPLP10Wics9WpG6VdrgWr_rw/s1600/IMG_1956.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="STRATODEAN - Underside of tracker" border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0aYf_DW5TVxka4vZuK2G3jmK8iDwE830Dt7v74GBWfzkC32XA4vxr2-8bZy4E3Lvw0t9zvu37TKXxVSSeKDcASdsty6y21J7AEooL6bELR9TLFuKUZWwcPLP10Wics9WpG6VdrgWr_rw/s320/IMG_1956.JPG" title="STRATODEAN - Underside of tracker" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Underside</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKjd0JmEwEeLOOJ08er_eC5-liAriRi544ZTMDx9thS9OTH0MDTZoWj8wUtba5Had4CJHA5HJ_6353nqxrL0vGd2BBA-N4TPFPKo-P20NV7HO6lM9Y8toYXlYKPZzii3DYFXsX_48iEaI/s1600/2013-01-30+19.57.37.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="STRATODEAN - Graham helping with the soldering" border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKjd0JmEwEeLOOJ08er_eC5-liAriRi544ZTMDx9thS9OTH0MDTZoWj8wUtba5Had4CJHA5HJ_6353nqxrL0vGd2BBA-N4TPFPKo-P20NV7HO6lM9Y8toYXlYKPZzii3DYFXsX_48iEaI/s200/2013-01-30+19.57.37.jpg" title="STRATODEAN - Graham helping with the soldering" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mark's brother Graham helping<br />
with the soldering!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Once we were happy enough that the software was almost there and that the physical connections were correct, it was time to make a more permanent fixture for the components. As we had the Arduino Uno, the simplest solution was to create our own '<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arduino#Shields" target="_blank">Arduino Shield</a>'. This meant that we could 'plug in' our tracker when we wanted to use it and then remove it if we wanted to use the Arduino for something else at a later stage. We bought some prototyping stripboard from Maplin and set about soldering! It was just a case of then plugging it in and hoping for the best. It definitely felt more like a proper device in itself once it was soldered.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXBiwMJNA68wjj0yD0lYUqnorSzNbKQwhBVwpJ0JSBxJ-sNWVRqKJOctJq1aIxuygLvCHn9_Qzfnv52ERpz8p7hiXpberZjFmQPETIgwuxGc2j_Pi0GCGWyA252UNHARUzMZ3gSiiv5Ow/s1600/IMG_1638.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="STRATODEAN - Coaxial shielding removed for antenna" border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXBiwMJNA68wjj0yD0lYUqnorSzNbKQwhBVwpJ0JSBxJ-sNWVRqKJOctJq1aIxuygLvCHn9_Qzfnv52ERpz8p7hiXpberZjFmQPETIgwuxGc2j_Pi0GCGWyA252UNHARUzMZ3gSiiv5Ow/s200/IMG_1638.JPG" title="STRATODEAN - Coaxial shielding removed for antenna" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Coaxial shielding removed</td></tr>
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Finally you do need an antenna to work with this tracker else no one would hear it! This is is quite simple to achieve with some RG58 coax cable. We followed some examples and advice from the guys on the IRC channel. They said that the most effective and simple antenna is a quarter-wave with ground plane. This is exactly how it sounds - the length of the antenna is a quarter of the length of the whole wave. 434MHz is also known as the 70cm band - so 70cm / 4 = 17cm antenna length. A <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ground_plane" target="_blank">ground plane</a> is a part of the antenna which help send the signals in a particular direction - in our case towards us on the ground! As mentioned in our <a href="http://www.stratodean.co.uk/2013/03/payload-part-two.html" target="_blank">Payload Part Two</a> video, we used the coaxial shielding to form the ground plane and the centre coax cable as the main element. It was quite a tedious process to unbraid the shielding - but take your time and you get results.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1j-zSI6VmejpzrNqYJs0Vb9dRZMLAj1qgL3sOH0A7Zj1FfMqBJx5-VvQzhnjMs1qJZFgLg0_zF08FO7k1B-LOWRL4JJbwYv952KNZGIAZTmZSD3wItGWtYJ1TbsJsGSbTMTvgkAHLbLw/s1600/IMG_2021.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="STRATODEAN - Payload Antenna" border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1j-zSI6VmejpzrNqYJs0Vb9dRZMLAj1qgL3sOH0A7Zj1FfMqBJx5-VvQzhnjMs1qJZFgLg0_zF08FO7k1B-LOWRL4JJbwYv952KNZGIAZTmZSD3wItGWtYJ1TbsJsGSbTMTvgkAHLbLw/s400/IMG_2021.JPG" title="STRATODEAN - Payload Antenna" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Antenna attached to payload</td></tr>
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Finally we created the ground plane by attaching the now divided coaxial shielding to the four corners of the payload box. Our payload is quite big compared to others, so if the ground plane over hangs, then use drinking straws or similar to support it. We have used a few drinking straws inside each other to support the centre element and to keep it straight during flight.<br />
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<h3>
What we would improve</h3>
Although this tracker has yet to fly - there are already a few things that we would change or improve on the next version. The first is to use a different Arduino board. The Uno is a great prototyping board, but it requires 7v-12v power input so it can run at 5v. This means that we need to use 6AA (6x1.5v = 9v) batteries which are pretty heavy! Following on from this, we would possibly investigate fabricating our own DIY printed circuit board and solder components together with the Arduino chip directly together.<br />
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<h3>
Hope this has helped</h3>
<div>
Although we haven't gone into the deep technical code and electrical side of things here, we hope this overview will show you the general processes needed in order to create your own High Altitude Balloon tracker. We hope to fly this very soon! If you have any questions please email <a href="mailto:stratodean@gmail.com" target="_blank">stratodean@gmail.com</a> or talk to the guys on the IRC channel. If you found this post useful or feel inspired to start your own project do let us know via <a href="mailto:stratodean@gmail.com" target="_blank">email</a> or <a href="http://twitter.com/stratodean/" target="_blank">Twitter</a> - we'd love to hear from you!</div>
Mark and Cassiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00946072836046667968noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8843670193991296554.post-81464406197120976292013-04-12T21:49:00.000+01:002013-04-25T19:46:53.339+01:00STRATODEAN One Launch - Postponed!As those of you who follow us on Twitter will already be aware - we originally planned to launch this Sunday 14th April. As our first launch, we've been making all the necessary preparations for weeks and were really looking forward to it! We've been keeping a close eye on the weather and wind predictions but on this occasion unfortunately the elements are against us - heavy rain is forecast and the strong winds would take our balloon to the North Sea...not ideal to say the least!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifUSTLFzDytg-qwCEdCxwVLDe0OAwmxN2QRCoxvumWifi53LqAwXLdOVmbElS_RcOvvGSMG8xbvxeF-XadsPl8e6a97oq5WGtZAM8eoELsFuxkutGidvVYcHrJ0frQL0P5TzaLC-hlebM/s1600/Screen+Shot+2013-04-12+at+21.04.17.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="STRATODEAN - Aborted Launch!" border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifUSTLFzDytg-qwCEdCxwVLDe0OAwmxN2QRCoxvumWifi53LqAwXLdOVmbElS_RcOvvGSMG8xbvxeF-XadsPl8e6a97oq5WGtZAM8eoELsFuxkutGidvVYcHrJ0frQL0P5TzaLC-hlebM/s400/Screen+Shot+2013-04-12+at+21.04.17.png" title="STRATODEAN - Aborted Launch!" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Heading for Grimsby!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
However, we will not be beaten and have rearranged to launch next Sunday 21st! </div>
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<div>
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<div>
Fingers (and toes) crossed for sun and no wind!</div>
Mark and Cassiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00946072836046667968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8843670193991296554.post-33244565888441793002013-04-08T22:58:00.000+01:002013-05-05T11:10:03.448+01:00Night Sky Photos ThreeWe moved location for the latest night sky photos to Beechenhurst Lodge, deep in the forest - or so you think! It's in the middle between Coleford and Cinderford so there is a lot of light pollution. Maybe we'll pick somewhere else next time. Definitely still some practice to be had but these aren't too bad...!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixkDw2N7VeQY1QSpaonttM6L5sybh282xd1RxnuvPvmQYcXZ_kC1DtyoHiVkCeDhbWp7-N2dthuMAZs6dQGKfUVrrGbPcxCoVxM2w32BM-F6zqbLZD7kAECE6dtfO48ST5ucTGCCXAKsI/s1600/IMG_0869.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="STRATODEAN Beechenhurst Lodge Polaris" border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixkDw2N7VeQY1QSpaonttM6L5sybh282xd1RxnuvPvmQYcXZ_kC1DtyoHiVkCeDhbWp7-N2dthuMAZs6dQGKfUVrrGbPcxCoVxM2w32BM-F6zqbLZD7kAECE6dtfO48ST5ucTGCCXAKsI/s640/IMG_0869.jpg" title="STRATODEAN Beechenhurst Lodge Polaris" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Beechenhurst Lodge Polaris</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGNTAVi7Sy0krASnNOrDsrXsJHDSQP4iQQBOmsTSCn-evDwHYa9GweLaGwzBsIbZGNmfCMSSsF0atITdyqORVAP-KaSfvnHSuo2rLi4-wFPmg5q2RckWaWyPVuwZeiGs7J_SqSXypmdlc/s1600/IMG_0883.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="STRATODEAN Beechenhurst Lodge" border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGNTAVi7Sy0krASnNOrDsrXsJHDSQP4iQQBOmsTSCn-evDwHYa9GweLaGwzBsIbZGNmfCMSSsF0atITdyqORVAP-KaSfvnHSuo2rLi4-wFPmg5q2RckWaWyPVuwZeiGs7J_SqSXypmdlc/s640/IMG_0883.jpg" title="STRATODEAN Beechenhurst Lodge" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Beechenhurst Lodge</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1m_GSre4Q7flRmWbRGGOTGJC9ZNE3MbtNFrr2_I88kU2S03rIDR6JdcOcI3KdN3rKH2jyALYkN1jx9TY0tlgSqDvijrucvOudDgNGRR-KwJVy5PTp2HIVggWv-ur3dP3OeheGhCx9yjA/s1600/IMG_0901.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: left;"><img alt="STRATODEAN Beechenhurst Lodge" border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1m_GSre4Q7flRmWbRGGOTGJC9ZNE3MbtNFrr2_I88kU2S03rIDR6JdcOcI3KdN3rKH2jyALYkN1jx9TY0tlgSqDvijrucvOudDgNGRR-KwJVy5PTp2HIVggWv-ur3dP3OeheGhCx9yjA/s400/IMG_0901.jpg" title="STRATODEAN Beechenhurst Lodge" width="266" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Beechenhurst Lodge</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZSYJ9lVWeKdZJRG6TOAXnTAYsjB4skLkhCZTkQBmzHR0WKlXiH_qCOcjIyQYT0vtyV8jG06s6Lqr629VJLKJppniLYDLOFFccsL_VeZXiddih1mj7oy1-QV8E_jpDg9D8OLrB5iXpo9c/s1600/IMG_0904.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="STRATODEAN Beechenhurst Lodge" border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZSYJ9lVWeKdZJRG6TOAXnTAYsjB4skLkhCZTkQBmzHR0WKlXiH_qCOcjIyQYT0vtyV8jG06s6Lqr629VJLKJppniLYDLOFFccsL_VeZXiddih1mj7oy1-QV8E_jpDg9D8OLrB5iXpo9c/s400/IMG_0904.jpg" title="STRATODEAN Beechenhurst Lodge" width="266" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Beechenhurst Lodge</td></tr>
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Mark and Cassiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00946072836046667968noreply@blogger.com0