Design of a small instrumented atmospheric descent probe

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Design of a small instrumented atmospheric
descent probe
NASA Ames Research Center
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Sponsor NASA Ames Research Center (Marc
Murbach) Budget 7.5K NASA Donations Launch
Operations, Support, and Launch Vehicle Expected
Flight March or April, 2007 from Wallops
Flight Facility in Virginia
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Project Goals
To design, construct, and fly a small atmospheric
descent probe carrying an atmospheric structure
instrument to measure acceleration, temperature,
and pressure throughout descent.  To measure
pressure, temperature, and acceleration during
descent to to characterize the atmosphere, and
to reconstruct probe descent trajectory. 
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Project Outline
The descent probe will be flown to an altitude in
excess of 200 km on a sounding rocket launched
from Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. The
team will build, test, and operate the probe,
and will analyze data received from the probe.
Data will be stored on-board and/or telemetered
to the ground in real time, and will be used to
characterize the atmospheric structure, and to
reconstruct the probe descent trajectory. Team
members will participate in the launch through
the live web-broadcast of a camera mounted on
the rocket, and it is possible that 1 or 2 team
members may attend the launch and participate in
launch preparations and operations.
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Design
Possible tradeoffs include a parachute descent
with both real time telemetry and on-board data
storage vs. a free-fall descent with all data
telemetered to the ground prior to impact (since
the probe likely will not survive impact and may
not be recovered). General physical specs are
TBD, but the probe will be approximately 10
inches in diameter (25.4 cm) and several kg
(about 6 pounds or less).
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UI Current Happenings