[back up to 5th anniversary of CSXT Space Shot 2004]
May 20, 2009
by Stratofox Aerospace Tracking Team
Here is the e-mail discussion about the CSXT Space Shot on Stratofox's e-mail list from May 13 to 27 and July 13, 2004. It has been edited to remove privacy-sensitive info such as e-mail addresses and phone numbers, except in the case of sponsor businesses who are presumed to want it to remain.
Just a quick note to let you know that everything's on schedule...some things even ahead of schedule! Crazy, but true! The weather also looks good, including ground-level and upper-level winds. My entire team from Connecticut will be arriving at Bruno's by 8AM on Sunday. Ian, I think you said in a previous post that you'd like to hook up early Sunday morning in Reno...maybe around 6AM? My team will be staying at the Best Western, across of the Reno airport. Want to use that as our staging point? Or do you have a better idea? We can connect by cell phone either Saturday night or Sunday morning. [...] See ya soon! 73 Eric
>From: Eric Knight >Just a quick note to let you know that everything's on schedule...some >things even ahead of schedule! Crazy, but true! The weather also looks >good, including ground-level and upper-level winds. Sounds good. Let's go turn Black Rock into the Kitty Hawk of the 21st Century! >My entire team from Connecticut will be arriving at Bruno's by 8AM on >Sunday. Ian, I think you said in a previous post that you'd like to hook >up early Sunday morning in Reno...maybe around 6AM? My team will be >staying at the Best Western, across of the Reno airport. Want to use that >as our staging point? Or do you have a better idea? We can connect by >cell phone either Saturday night or Sunday morning. I'll leave San Jose for Reno on Friday afternoon. I'll be available to meet with you Saturday afternoon in Reno after you arrive and take care of your rental car and stuff. You said you wanted to stop at Home Depot so let's plan on that. One of our new Stratofox members, Jay Lawson, lives in Sparks. Let's try to include him if he can meet us Saturday. And I'll also plan to meet you at the Airport Best Western on Sunday morning. I'll be on 446.5 simplex, unless we pick another frequency. It's almost 2 hours to Gerlach so 6AM should be a time when everyone's ready to go if you plan to meet Jerry at 8AM. And plan for no stops enroute. BTW, I haven't had a spare moment to arrange a Stratofox sticker for the rocket. And there's no way now that I'll be able to fit it in before I leave tomorrow.
At 07:16 PM 5/13/04 -0700, Ian Kluft wrote: > >From: Eric Knight > >Just a quick note to let you know that everything's on schedule...some > >things even ahead of schedule! Crazy, but true! The weather also looks > >good, including ground-level and upper-level winds. > >Sounds good. Let's go turn Black Rock into the Kitty Hawk of the >21st Century! Absolutely! > >My entire team from Connecticut will be arriving at Bruno's by 8AM on > >Sunday. Ian, I think you said in a previous post that you'd like to hook > >up early Sunday morning in Reno...maybe around 6AM? My team will be > >staying at the Best Western, across of the Reno airport. Want to use that > >as our staging point? Or do you have a better idea? We can connect by > >cell phone either Saturday night or Sunday morning. > >I'll leave San Jose for Reno on Friday afternoon. > >I'll be available to meet with you Saturday afternoon in Reno after you >arrive and take care of your rental car and stuff. You said you wanted >to stop at Home Depot so let's plan on that. Excellent. Our Southwest flight arrives into Reno at 1:45 PM. We'll pick up the rental vehiclesSUVs there. We already have two reserved. We'll then be heading to Home Depot. How about I give you a call on your cell when we arrive into Reno? We can then coordinate our trek to Home Depot and any other supply store we need. Bring your appetite for the evening. We're planning to eat at a GREAT all-you-can-eat restaurant located at the Boomtown Hotel and Casino in Carson City. [...] >One of our new Stratofox members, Jay Lawson, lives in Sparks. Let's >try to include him if he can meet us Saturday. Super. Will do. >And I'll also plan to meet you at the Airport Best Western on Sunday morning. >I'll be on 446.5 simplex, unless we pick another frequency. It's almost >2 hours to Gerlach so 6AM should be a time when everyone's ready to go if >you plan to meet Jerry at 8AM. And plan for no stops enroute. Perfect. 446.5 simplex it is. We're also planning to monitor / use the national calling frequencies: 146.520 & 446.000 simplex. >BTW, I haven't had a spare moment to arrange a Stratofox sticker for the >rocket. And there's no way now that I'll be able to fit it in before >I leave tomorrow. Bummer. Can you (or anyone else on the team) do a quick inkjet / laser printout on adhesive-backed paper -- like you can get at Staples? Just trying to think of a simple option. F.Y.I., I'll be checking my e-mail just a couple more times. Tomorrow morning. Midday. Then probably around 8:00 PM ET. The first leg of our flight leaves at 8:45 AM on Saturday. Looking forward to making history with all of you. See you soon! 73 Eric
I met up with the CSXT Avionics Team today after they arrived in Reno. We went to a Home Depot and Wal Mart to get a bunch of things on a checklist they had of things to get that they couldn't bring on the plane. The PVC to hold up the ATV dish is on the rack on my truck. Jay Lawson also joined us when we went for dinner at the buffet at the Boomtown Casino. Jay was very encouraged about the launch after meeting the team and will redouble his efforts to get time off from work to attend. In any case, he plans to be there on Sunday to help set up. Even if he can't get time off, everyone saw he offered to be a local resource for any emergency supply needs. (Black Rock is only 2 hours from Jay's home in Sparks.) I think everyone enjoyed getting together today. I sure did. BTW, Eric had the right location for Boomtown on the map but it's in a town called Verdi just west of Reno. All of us who drive to Black Rock from the Bay Area recognize it because you can't miss all the brightly-lit casino just after crossing the border 4 minutes into Nevada on I-80. It's actually 2 miles from the California border as the crow flies. So close for the folks from CT... close enough to see the nearby snowy mountainside in California but they didn't get into the Golden State. Oh well. :-) Anyway, I have to go to sleep. I'll be getting up around 4AM to get ready for the drive to Gerlach. We're aiming to arrive at 8AM. I'll beacon APRS and monitor 446.5 simplex as our team members arrive. See you there!
I'm in Jeremy's car in Vallejo on the way out to Black Rock! I have IP connectivity via my Verizon 1xRTT radio, and I'll be trying to stay online as much as possible on the way out, and hopefully I'll be able to get online from the playa or at least from Gerlach or Empire. Will Galloway called me this morning as I was entering Emeryville on my way to meet Jeremy to ask if I needed a ride. It's good to know that I would have still had a ride even if things didn't work out with Jeremy, but obviously I ended up going with Jeremy. Fortunately, since Jeremy was delayed, we ended up meeting him even closer to the path they would have taken, so Jeremy and Christian Colleen didn't end up going as far out of their way as they might otherwise have gone.
We just crossed into Nevada. Signal was a little spotty through the mountains, but other than that it's been pretty solid.
We just pulled off to get the last cheap gas before we head off toward Black Rock at the Pyramid Lake/Wadsworth exit.
I just returned to Reno/Sparks. All Stratofox members that were going have made it to Black Rock. (With the exception of Will?, but I thought I saw him near Pyramid lake) The CSXT preparations are in process and all looks well. I have some work issues that need tended to, then will head back out in the morning. I have some photos from today that I will send out later, and try to figure a way to get the others where they can be seen. Anyway, everyone is safely at Black Rockagain, except Will and conditions look good. I will check email prior to departing in the morning at 5 am, so if you have a message going that way I can take it. Jay Lawson > We just pulled off to get the last cheap gas before we head off toward > Black Rock at the Pyramid Lake/Wadsworth exit.
> I will check email prior to departing in the morning at 5 am, so if you > have a message going that way I can take it. Just thought the crew might like to know... SpaceShipOne made it to 40 miles yesterday. -Mark
Hey Jay-- Tell them to look for comet NEAT almost due west at 45deg elevation. Should be visible with the naked eye out there. I saw it last night at Dairy Aire, but it's just a fuzzy blob. There are two other visible comets out there right now, but I'm not sure where they are. Have a good time out there. Drink pleanty of fluids. We launched two hybrids at Dairy Aire today with CPSS. Remember to count fingers & toes. Do you know when K7R will be active? I'd like to talk with you guys and see how it is going for you. Bryan KF6ZEO wrote: > I just returned to Reno/Sparks. All Stratofox members that were going > have made it to Black Rock. (With the exception of Will?, but I thought I > saw him near Pyramid lake) The CSXT preparations are in process and all > looks well. I have some work issues that need tended to, then will head > back out in the morning. I have some photos from today that I will send > out later, and try to figure a way to get the others where they can be > seen. > > Anyway, everyone is safely at Black Rockagain, except Will and > conditions look good. > > I will check email prior to departing in the morning at 5 am, so if you > have a message going that way I can take it. > > Jay Lawson > > > >>We just pulled off to get the last cheap gas before we head off toward >>Black Rock at the Pyramid Lake/Wadsworth exit. -- Bryan Klofas, KF6ZEO Cal Poly State University
I just heard from Ian. The rocket was launched at 11:12am Pacific time today. The launch was a success, and they received telemetry indicating that the nosecone had separated from the body. The telemetry systems weren't 100% operational, however, so they don't currently know what altitude was reached. A sonic boom was heard at 11:20am, which indicates that either the nosecone or the rocket body separated from its parachute or did not deploy its parachute. A helecopter on the scene was able to receive non-directional telemetry from the transmitter attached to the body of the rocket indicating that it landed approximately 25 miles downrange to the northwest of the launch site. This was confirmed by one of the Stratofox train spotters. The team is now headed into the mountains to try and locate the body of the rocket. If they are unable to locate it today, they will be moving the camp closer to the estimated touchdown point tomorrow. The next time the team contacts me we will develop a schedule for HF contact which I will post here. The team on the Playa: Ian Kluft Jeremy Cooper Christian Void Colleen Brenan Will Galloway Jay Larson More info as I receive it. 73, Mark KA8I
Almost forgot to add this part... Given the telemetry received, the team on the Playa estimates that the rocket did achieve the required altitude to be considered a successful space launch. This will be confirmed once the team reaches the rocket body. 73, Mark
I just heard from Ian again. They've recovered the nosecone which contained the avionicscontrary to the statement in my previous e-mail. The nosecone was located at 11:31A PDT. It landed on a mountain side in a boulder field approximately 6600' AGL. The team had gone to the site yesterday and had decided that it had probably landed in that area, but were unable to continue due to the late hour. It has been determined that the booster falling after seperation was the cause of the sonic boom heard at 11:20AM, and that it has probably burried itself in the desert somewhere. The team will not be attempting to locate the booster. The CSXT team is now attempting to retrieve the altitude data from the avionics package. I asked Ian to give me a call once they've done so, but they now estimate that the peak altitude was approximately 70 miles (112.65km) based on the location of the nosecone and the time that they heard the sonic boom produced by the booster. Contrary to news reports, this would make the CSXT GoFast rocket the first non-government sponsored craft to reach space, which is defined as any altitude above 100km. The SpaceShipOne launch reported in the news to have reached space reached a peak altitude of 64.6km on May 13. Most of the radio equipment in the nosecone was destroyed by the intense heat caused by Mach 5 speeds on ascent. The paint had been stripped off of the rocket when it was recovered. The Palmer family from Placerville, CA with the El Dorado ARES were the ham radio operators from California mentioned in the ARRL article yesterday. The two Palmer brothers had brought with them some equipment for DF'ing signals on a commercial band just below 1.25M (220MHz) which were instrumental in locating the nosecone. The Palmers have been operating as a part of Stratofox since they arrived on the Playa. Additionally, the helicopter that was on the scene yesterday had estimated the touchdown location to within 1 mile, so good job to those guys. That's it for now, more as I know it. -Mark
CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL THE STRATOFOX RECOVERY TEAM!!!!!! CONSIDERING THE ROUGH TERRAIN AND DIFFICULT TASK, THIS IS A MAJOR ACCOMPLISHMENT. THANK YOU FOR ALLOWING ME TO BE A PART OF THE RECOVERY. >I just heard from Ian again. They've recovered the nosecone which >contained the avionicscontrary to the statement in my previous e-mail. > >The nosecone was located at 11:31A PDT. It landed on a mountain side in >a boulder field approximately 6600' AGL. The team had gone to the site >yesterday and had decided that it had probably landed in that area, but >were unable to continue due to the late hour. THIS WAS ROUGH COUNTRY, NOW WHERE NEAR WHERE THE PLANNED RECOVERY WAS SUPPOSED TO BE. IAN WAS VERY THOROUGH IN HAVING MAPS TO COVER THIS AREA AS WELL. EXTRA PREPARATION ALLWAYS PAYS OFF!! > >Most of the radio equipment in the nosecone was destroyed by the intense >heat caused by Mach 5 speeds on ascent. The paint had been stripped off >of the rocket when it was recovered. THE MERLIN FALCON TRANSMITTER PEOPLE SHOULD BE HIGHLY PRAISED FOR THEIR CONTRIBUTION. RECOVERY WAS LARGELY POSSIBLE BECAUSE THEIR PARTS SURVIVED WHEN ALL THE OTHER EQUIPMENT FAILED. Jay Lawson
Heard from Ian again. They've opened up the nosecone. Most of the components near the skin of the rocket had melted to some degree. They were able to determine that the GPS receivers did not re-acquire signals after the acceleration slowed, but the accelerometer indicates that the rocket performed beyond expectations, meaning that they probably broke their planned altitude goals. They're crunching the numbers now, and I've asked that Ian call me as soon as they know something regardless of the hour. The team may be heading back home tomorrow. They had planned to break camp tonight but didn't start in time. They haven't decided yet wether or not they will go on a D6 hunt, but the general feeling at this point seems to indicate that they won't. More news as I've got it. 73, -Mark
Ian and his rider are heading back to San Jose tonight. The CSXT guys haven't yet decoded the data from the avionics. They're predicting that they'll have an announcement around 8am tomorrow. Jeremy, KE6JJJ is staying behind and will post to the list using a local Burning Man participant's broadband connection (T1 over microwave from somewhere, made available over an open 802.11 connection with his permission. Wow.) That's it from me. 73 all. -Mark, KA8I
I sent an email to Merlin systems to let them know that their equipment helped locate the nose cone and avionics section. They left the playa on Monday night as I did, before recovery. They were thrilled to hear the news. I would like to suggest that we put them in the email list for the remainder of the project. Their contact info is: Ed Levine Merlin Systems, Inc. P.O. Box 190257 Boise, ID 83719 Ph:208 362-2254 Fax: (208) 362-2140 www.merlin-systems.com JayJay,Thank you very much for this e-mail!!!!! No, we hadn't heard this news yet but obviously were wondering and that is fantastic news. We will be very anxious to hear about what the data recovery process shows. Sort of made us laugh abo= ut "guys" in the helicopter and the brothers with equipment they brought for DF........but we are used to how stories can go. Just glad our stuff = kept on ticking well enough to get it back.Thank you again for the update. We r= eally appreciate it and any other news you might hear.It was a pleasure meeting you and good spe= aking with you.Best Regards,Ed
(Jay: I guess brilliant minds think alike, because I also sent Ed a message this morning. Here's his response:) Hi Will, Great to hear from you and that is fantastic news about the transmitters! I mentioned to Eric that we would love to see them and do some testing on them to see how they held up. That is just great they kept on ticking as well as they did considering what they must have gone through. I'm also anxious to see exactly where it all was located and how far from our last position when we gave up the first evening...and how close we got with the chopper? All fun stuff.....did you use the helicopter again or just go at it from our last ground position? Did you have to hike far or were you able to continue up that two track road and get closer from the top? We, of course, would love to have any pictures we can get of the recovery area and nose cone, transmitters, etc.....thank you! Also, when you say all but one transmitter was working does that mean you found the body of the rocket too? Or do you just mean two out of the three in the nose cone were still working? Thanks for the information and if you guys have e-mail notices that are going out on this we would sure like to be added to that list, if possible? We had a great time working with you guys and appreciated the opportunity to see how you all go about tracking these launches and all of the organization that goes in to getting one off the ground. Very professional and impressive. Thanks for putting up with us tagging along and letting us help out a little bit. We're really happy the transmitters helped get the rocket back. That's fantastic. Did the one on the body of the unit help you narrow it down because it was weaker or did you have a visual on it by the time you picked that up? I'd also be curious to know exact distance from the place where the cone was to the launch site. Lots of questions of course and I am sure we will get the answers with time but as always, we're anxiously awaiting any further news. Thanks again, Ed Levine Merlin Systems, Inc. P.O. Box 190257 Boise, ID 83719 Ph:208 362-2254 Fax: (208) 362-2140 www.merlin-systems.com --- lawson@powernet.net wrote: > I sent an email to Merlin systems to let them know that their > equipment > helped locate the nose cone and avionics section. They left > the playa on > Monday night as I did, before recovery. > > They were thrilled to hear the news. > > I would like to suggest that we put them in the email list for > the > remainder of the project. Their contact info is: > > Ed Levine > Merlin Systems, Inc. > P.O. Box 190257 > Boise, ID 83719 > Ph: (208) 362-2254 > Fax: (208) 362-2140 > www.merlin-systems.com > ed@merlin-systems.com > > Jay > > > >
Sean and I got back to San Jose at 9AM today. I've been taking a nap after driving all night. Now I'm slowly catching up on e-mail. This was the most challenging recovery we've ever done, and with the highest expectations ever put upon us. I'm proud of the job our entire team did there. We did it! And having done it, this is now the biggest feather in Stratofox's cap. Here's a quick response about the question of posting pictures... >Subject: Re: [CSXT] Update from the Playa, 20:45 GMT >On Mon, 2004-05-17 at 17:06, Mark Whittington wrote: >> Well, I was asked only to post it on the CSXT list, not the general list, >> so I'd say for now it needs to be kept private. I'll confirm that with >> Ian and company when I hear from them next. > >Well, it's on the ARRL site: > >http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2004/05/17/100/?nc=1 > >so I went ahead and started the commentary based on that. But if I could >post pics that would be awesome! Ky gave us permission to post all our pictures. [...] I'm still in awe at the excellent condition of the payloads recovered from the nose cone (including Fred Brunjes' drivers license.) We found the nose cone section embedded 42 inches into a boulder field at the 6600' elevation on a mountainside in the northern Granite Range. The nose was scratched but not dented. Payloads made of plastic near the inner edge of the nose cone were partly melted. As I said, the electronics bay was 100% intact. However, it had to be extracted to read the data because the external data connector was melted away. Now that I've had some sleep, I'll try to post pictures tonight.
Check out the updated ARRL article that's been updated with Ian's photos: http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2004/05/19/1/?nc=1 And, I know I've said this a whole bunch of times, but me (and the rest of CSXT) truly mean it: You are not only the best at what you do, but also a team of people that superbly represent the world of amateur radio. We're proud to call you our friends. Thanks, again. 73 Eric
Mark Whittington wrote: >The team on the Playa: > > Ian Kluft > Jeremy Cooper > Christian Void > Colleen Brenan > Will Galloway > Jay Larson > > add Sean Lynch.
Oops. I'm sorry, Sean. Sean Lynch was definitely on the Playa. :) -Mark On Fri, 21 May 2004, Sean R. Lynch wrote: > Mark Whittington wrote: > > >The team on the Playa: > > > > Ian Kluft > > Jeremy Cooper > > Christian Void > > Colleen Brenan > > Will Galloway > > Jay Larson > > > > > add Sean Lynch.
>From: Mark Whittington >Oops. I'm sorry, Sean. > > Sean Lynch was definitely on the Playa. > > :) And more than just on the playa... Sean and Jeremy led Stratofox's DF Team 1 which sort of found it. They were the first with radios to arrive at the landing site, and found the CSXT photographer (Bradley, whom for some reason Ky is somewhat embarassed to say was the one who found it :-) who had tken off ahead of them without a radio, was already there waving the parachute at them. But he only knew where to look because of watching them make their DF sweeps from the 4x4 trail. I was with DF Team 2, whom I shuttled up the canyon after DF1 and everyone else. We parked lower and walked up where the Palmers thought we should look the previous day. It also turned out to point the correct direction but was a much more uphill and strenuous hike. I got pictures of the DF1 folks doing their final ascent of the ridge above us just before they radioed back that it had been found. Then we had to climb that slope.
I responded to Jerry directly but let me forward this to the whole team since obviously everyone who was out there has a part in the credit being directed toward Stratofox. >From:Larson, Jerry L >Ian, thanks so much to you and your team for being at SpaceShot 2004. >You made all the difference in the world. I will never forget the >feeling of cresting the ridge to see the spacecraft embedded in the side >of the mountain. You and your team made that experience possible for me >and I'm indebted to you for life. I look forward to our next space shot >experience with you. Take care, your friend Jerry. FYI - He had written me as part of a larger message where we were sorting out something else. For those who heard that Jeremy couldn't find his work laptop when he got home, well, ummm... it turned up with Jerry's stuff when he arrived home in Denver. We're still not sure how that happenned. So Eric and I were getting the two of them in touch.
I found in the web referrer logs that CSXT member Derek Deville thanked Stratofoxamong many others on his page about the launch. http://www.ddeville.com/derek/CSXT.htm I linked back to his page from the Stratofox pictures.
Page 72 of August's QST features CSXT & Stratofox -- and coverage of our space flight. What will catch your eye first is Ian's fantastic launch photowith appropriate photo credit. Nice work by the ARRL. 73 Eric