Summary
We met at Tim's house this Sunday from 10:00am until the late afternoon to set up the launch tower, put together the rocket, revive all the old ground systems equipment, and make sure everything was up and running.
The outcome was very positive: there's a lot to do, but everything was working, including the new launch tower, and old communications system.
To-dos
- Launch Tower
- Revive the old PSAS field server and get the launch tower computer (LTC) up and running again (Ian, Jamey and Josh after Andrew finds the HD).
- Find old Launch Control Computer (LCC) hard drive
- Find or rewrite documentation on how to set up the LCC and field server
- Find serial adapter for PC-104 stack, for LTC debug console
- Misc. launch tower clean up (Dave).
- Clean up safety SOP (Andrew).
- Casio camera interface (if time,Andrew).
- Launch Control
- Get a SLA battery charger (Glenn?).
- Rocket
- Mount umbilical cord to activate DVR and pressure sensor (Andrew gets umbilical, Dave mounts it).
- Mount switch for the ARTS flight computer (Dave).
- Calculate fin area rip them, and mount them (Tim, Dave).
- Repack parachutes (carefully!) (Tim).
- Figure out some kind of igniter shorting system (?).
- More rocket prep (aeroshell, etc) (Dan).
- Misc.
- Bring list (Andrew).
- Coordinate with OROC (Andrew).
Next step
A dry-run launch on Sunday May 17th, again at Tim's house.
Pictures
Launch Tower on the ground |
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Launch control electronics |
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Rocket sections |
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The tower's up! |
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Looking up the tower |
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Ground control. Has radios and a computer for initiating a launch |
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Assembling the rocket |
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Launch lugs. These guide the rocket up the launch rail attached to the tower |
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Rocket assembling |
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Looking up the launch rail that will guide the rocket for the first few feet |
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Loading the rocket |
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Raising the rocket into position |
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Rocket in take off position |
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The whole assembly. Note the BBQ antenna integrated into the tower |
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Base station and launch tower in final configuration |
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