JPA Announces: Away 34 - including space for 50 PongSats!

JP Aerospace has spots for 50 PongSats aboard Away 34. Mission date is set for mid-September in Black Rock, NV.

For those interested in flying their experiment, please e-mail jpowell@jpaerospace.com to register.

Away 34 mission goals:

• Go Really High!
• Take 50 PongSats to 100,000 ft.
  
• Test updated airship Hardware/Software (Telemetry/Radios/SensorCluster).
• Test new GPS Modules from Parallax.
• Verify on-board high-gain antenna and radio configuration.
• If time and weight allows, perform payload acceleration measurement.
  

Away 34 is going to be a stepping-stone mission for us. We have another few missions planned for the Autumn and Winter season that will require us to get this mission done quickly. We have a new set of radios that we will be testing with an improved antenna array for added range. Our flight software is undergoing a few revisions to make them more reliable, more modular and more compatible with the newer radios. The mission weight is significantly less than our previous configurations, so we're expecting a fast climb and ultimately, a high altitude, assuming we hit the fill weight correctly.

We are also going to be testing a few new additions to our launch bags that will make it even easier to launch in high crosswinds with changing wind directions. With high winds and changing directions on the last mission, the flaps on our launch bags were catching a bit too much air. A redesign of the openings will hopefully solve the problem.

Keep an eye on the JPA blog for more details.

Posted at 06:04PM Aug 17, 2007 by Bob @ JPAerospace in PongSat Missions  |  Comments[0]

Welcome to the PongSat blog!

Welcome to the new home of the Official PongSat Weblog!

The purpose of this new site is to provide information about the PongSat program and to encourage people to get actively involved. We're also here to provide users with a community site from which to discuss PongSats and their experiments.

From the Official Site:

Student experiments flown to the edge of space by balloons and launched in rockets.

A PongSat is an experiment that fits inside of a ping pong ball.
These ping pong ball ?satellites? are flown to the edge of space by balloon or launched in sounding rockets.
The PongSats are then returned to the student.
It?s an easy and inexpensive way to get students excited about science and engineering.

There are endless possibilities for experiments that can fit inside a ping pong ball. PongSat?s can be as simple or complex as you want them to be. Experiments can be as simple as comparing how high a ball bounces before and after being exposed to vacuum.
The PongSat can carry seeds to see if exposure to cosmic rays effect their growth. Several small inexpensive computers and other electronic can fit inside a PongSat. These can be used to create a wide range of experiments. Whether carrying a marshmallow to see if it puffs up in the vacuum of near space or an entire sophisticated satellite in miniature, PongSat can create motivation, drive and passion in the classroom.

PongSats are flown at no cost to the student or school.

Kirk was nice enough to give us a home here at blogs.seds.org and we're beginning construction of the website from the ground up. Thanks Kirk!!!  I'm just now getting used to the Roller web log software, and from what I can see so far, it's pretty spiffy.

For now, you can reach the current PongSat page at jpaerospace.com here. For students and  teachers the current user guide is found here. I will be posting an updated one soon.

Any questions can be directed to me: bob-at-jpaerospace.com or you can post your comments below. Thanks for visiting. Hope you like the ride!

Posted at 11:41AM Aug 16, 2007 by Bob @ JPAerospace in Announcements  |  Comments[0]