[aprssig] Mega 4-Balloon Launch Sunday - First Run of Precision Mapping 9.0 On WA8LMF UI-LiveTrack

[Stephen H. Smith]

*** Monster 4-Balloon Launch To Be Tracked On My Uiview LiveTrack System Using 
New Precision Mapping Server 9.0

The flights below will be tracked at:

. <http://wa8lmf.net/LiveTrack>

Note that there is a slight chance of rain that may scrub the launches.

California Near Space Project (CNSP) is ready to launch *FOUR* balloonson 
Sunday December 11, 2011, starting about 16:00 PST (0000 UTC Monday 12 December).

Two will be high-altitude short-duration flights.

CNSP-13 (K6RPT-13)
CNSP-14 (K6RPT-14)

Two will be long-duration stratospheric floaters. Our goal is to reach neutral 
buoyancy ata very high altitude and fly as far across the United States as 
possible.

Estimated float time is 16 -18 hours. APRS (Automatic Packet Reporting System) 
updates will be every two minutes and the run time is 50+ hours.The APRS 
trackers will report voltage during the flights.

CNSP-11 (K6RPT-11) 1600g Hwoyee,estimated maximum altitude, 120k
CNSP-12 (K6RPT-12) 3000g Totex,estimated maximum altitude, 105k

CNSP-04 flew from California to Utah on November 18, 2010, with a float time of 
9 hours 20 minutes. We have waited over a year for this next launch to have the 
longest float time without ultraviolet exposure. This launch will be at sunset 
and should fly all night. We expect the flights to end around 11 a.m. the next 
morning.

One of the characteristics we have noticed with floaters is at the last 45 
minutes of the flight the latex starts breaking down from ultraviolet exposure. 
At that point the balloon starts expanding, allowing the flight to ascend 500’ 
- 2000’ before bursting. A more popular theory is a solar heating effect, but 
if this was true we believe it would have a more linear ascent throughout the 
ultraviolet exposure. This will be interesting to watch for on these two flights.

CNSP will be filling indoors using a floating arm scale which allows the fill 
to be very accurate. The 3000g Totex will be easier to float than the 1600g 
Hwoyee, but as we all know if Murphy steps in anything could happen.

We are very happy to have Mark Conner, N9XTN, from NSTAR working with us on 
this project; he will be watching the weather at high altitude and giving us 
the final ok to launch.

The launch will take place at Precision Tune Auto Care 4954 Almaden Expressway 
- San Jose, CA 95118 (located next to Safeway). Precision Tune Auto Care will 
be opening their garage at 4:00 p.m. to allow CNSP to fill the balloons indoors.

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Stephen H. Smith wa8lmf (at) aol.com
Skype: WA8LMF
Home Page: http://wa8lmf.net

*** NEW Precision Mapping 9 For UIview Now Out! ***
http://wa8lmf.net/aprs/PMap9_Notes.htm


Vista & Win7 Install Issues for UI-View and Precision Mapping
http://wa8lmf.net/aprs/UIview_Notes.htm#VistaWin7

HF APRS over PSK63
http://wa8lmf.net/APRS_PSK63/index.htm

"APRS 101" Explanation of APRS Path Selection & Digipeating
http://wa8lmf.net/DigiPaths