First Flight of HASP

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First Flight of HASP

• S. Besse, A. Calongne, M. Cherry, A. Dominique,
  S. B. Ellison, R. Gould,
• D. Granger, T.G. Guzik, R. McNeil, F. Mingireanu,
  D. Olano, D. Smith,
• M. Stewart and J. P. Wefel
• Dept. of Physics Astronomy, Louisiana State
  University, Baton Rouge, LA U.S.A.

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The Primary Problem

• How do we get from

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Build Practical Research Skills

• First need to establish the technical skills
• Semi-formal Student Ballooning Course guides
  this process
• 33 lectures in electronics, programming, design
  and management
• 33 hands-on activities illustrate all the basic
  concepts
• Takes place over fall semester

• Next need to apply these skills
• Develop an experiment from scratch
• Must have real science content
• no cockroaches allowed!
• Go through all project phases
• design, development, fabrication, testing,
  operation
• Series of reviews (written and oral) check
  progress
• Takes place over spring semester
• Science results presented after flight
• Skills apply to all S E research fields.

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Programs in this series

• Louisiana Aerospace Catalyst Experiences for
  Students (LaACES)
• Entry level uses small payloads (500 g) with
  sounding balloon vehicle
• 2006-2007 is the fourth year of operation
• LSU (10 students, extramural), UNO (5 students,
  extramural), LaTech (11 students, laboratory
  course), McNeese (6 students, extramural), SU (4
  students, extramural)

• Physics Aerospace Catalyst Experiences for
  Students (PACER)
• Focus on establishing LaACES-like programs at
  HBCU institutions
• Bring teams to LSU for 9-week intensive summer
  workshop
• Mentor institutions during academic year
• New start next summer, proposal pending at NSF
• High Altitude Student Platform (HASP)
• For advanced undergraduates and graduates
• Support student thesis projects
• Developed here with support from BOR, LaSPACE,
  Department, and College

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Major HASP Features

• Support flight test up to 12 student built
  payloads
• Eight small payloads lt 1 kg four large payloads
  lt 10 kg
• Fly to an altitude gt 36 km for a duration of 20
  hours
• Provide payloads with serial uplink, serial
  downlink, discretes, 28 VDC power, analog
  downlink
• Downlink available in near real time

• Include CosmoCam for real time video during
  launch flight
• NASA partnership supports three flights
• First flight September 4, 2006
• Two more flights, once a year

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Fly out of Ft. Sumner NM
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On-site Assembly Testing
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Launch Day Sept 4, 2006
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HASP Launched at 1551 UTC
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18 hour flight, 15 at float
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Little damage on recovery
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Student Payloads

• This year HASP flew 8 student payloads from 4
  institutions and students are in the early stages
  of analyzing their results.
• University of Alabama Huntsville
• Infrared telescopes to remotely study the thermal
  characteristics of the balloon envelope (4 small
  payloads)
• Texas A M University
• Video camera system to study remote sensing from
  high altitude (1 small)
• University of Louisiana Lafayette
• Nuclear emulsion stack to investigate high energy
  cosmic rays (1 large)
• Louisiana State University (Mechanical Eng.)
• Study the flow characteristics of various rocket
  nozzles as a function of altitude (1 large
  payload)
• Louisiana State University (Physics)
• Prototype of an accelerometer based inertial
  navigation system (1 small)

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Very preliminary results
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Summary

• The first flight of HASP was very successful
• System was assembled, tested and flight ready
  about one week
• 18 hours from launch to landing, 15 hours at
  altitudes gt 110,000 feet
• No glitches in telemetry and commanding
  throughout the flight
• Thermal performance exceeded expectations (e.g.
  battery temp remained above 10o C for most of the
  flight)
• Student payload data, HASP housekeeping and
  position / altitude information was available in
  real-time on the HASP website
• Only very minor damage upon landing
• Yearly flights will support timely student
  payload development
• Next Ft. Sumner flight expected for September
  2007
• CY2007 Call for Payloads was released Sept. 1,
  2006, application due Dec. 15, 2006
• Further information and updates can be found at
  the HASP website at http//laspace.lsu.edu/HASP/