FIRE IN THE SKY 2006 Mansfield

NWAPRS serves: Alberta, British Columbia, Northwest Territories,
Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Montana

FIRE IN THE SKY 2006
Mansfield, WA
Memorial Day Weekend May 26-29

By Dave Dobbins/K7GPS

With an assortment of amateur rockets blazing smoke trails high into the central Washington skies over Memorial Day weekend, Paul Verhage/KD4STH brought along a balloon package to send off to even higher altitudes; into near space. The annual Memorial Day gathering of rocketeers, enthusiasts, and their rockets, ranging in size from 1-8" in diameter, and up to 9' in length, and powered by a variety of small and large rocket engines, provides the basis for a great family weekend. From the whoosh of the smaller rockets, to the flames and roar of the big projectiles, the entertainment value of this event deserves a big plus and thumbs up. I'll bet the ham community would find these rocket events very interesting.

In preparation for the Sunday morning balloon launch, Paul logged on to the web Saturday evening to gather data for the atmospheric projection model for the next morning, which indicated light winds out of the south-southeast. Based on launch package factors, including package weight, balloon capacity and fill, and coupled with the weather data, we were expecting an eight mile horizontal ground track. Since we were attempting to recover the package back near the FITS launch site just west of Mansfield, our balloon launch location would take us south to an area east of Jameson Lake. At 0600 Sunday morning the launch team assembled at nearby Mansfield High School where Paul wanted to check for updates to the forecast prediction. Unfortunately we were too early for anyone to be at the school to allow us access, so we had to rely on (what proved to be) slightly outdated weather info.

Our launch team convoy headed south to Jameson Lake and found a suitable launch location at the Jameson Lake Resort. Actually, it was a perfect launch location as the Jameson Lake Restaurant was practically next door and they were already open for breakfast. The launch team laid out the helium bottles, balloon, 6' diameter parachute, and launch packages, which similar to last year's event, included two well-insulated square and one triangular project kits housing the APRS, telemetry (for temperature and air pressure recording), camera equipment, and an assortment of business cards, T-shirt, and other miscellaneous memorabilia bound for the heavens above. The rocket group provided an old rocket body to send up, so they could say this particular rocket had gone higher than any other amateur rocket, without benefit of rocket power. Two independent APRS trackers, consisting of one 2m handi-talkie, GPS and TinyTrack III combo and one PocketTracker/GPS combo, with independent power supplies and antennas were included. Paul and others have learned that redundancy pays off when you absolutely must recover the package following the flight, as several packages have been lost when the tracker failed mid-flight.

Paul and the launch crew prepare the balloon for inflation, plus make final adjustments before launch at 0700.

Digital pics during ascent, from 7K, 19K, 30K, 57K, 64K, 78K, and finally 81K just before balloon burst and descent back to earth.

Digital pics during descent from 81,650 feet, from 78K, 65K, 47K and finally 24K. The white stuff in the last pictures is the balloon remnants.

The launch went off just fine at 0700, and the balloon rose nearly straight up, indicating the light wind projection data was still good. However, it was easy to see from the balloon's northwest track that the winds had shifted overnight. We continued to visually track the balloon, as it grew larger due to a decrease in the air pressure at higher altitude. We also tracked it via my mobile computer running the UI-View APRS software. After a quick bite to eat, we drove back to the FITS site. By now the balloon had reached 50,000 feet and was still heading up, and northwest. As we were expecting the balloon to reach 85-90,000 feet before burst, we alerted the rocketeer astronomy group with their big telescopes to track the balloon closely as balloon burst would come soon. As the balloon passed through 80,000 feet it had grown to nearly 25 feet in diameter. Even without the telescope the balloon was still easy to see in the clear blue skies. A few minutes early of projection, a little over an hour into the flight, the balloon burst at 81,650 feet, and began its descent back to earth under parachute. We were receiving good position data from the redundant APRS trackers, and stayed for a few minutes to watch a few more big rockets roar off into the skies.

About 0815 the recovery team convoy headed west, monitoring the parachute package descent on APRS. With the balloon launch location plotted at Jameson Lake, and the burst location 8.4 miles northwest, the calculation for a landing zone was 50% of the distance further along the same track, or 12.6 miles total distance traveled on a 306 degree heading. We proceeded to that general area, but spent too much time looking for a good road into the site that we missed watching the package on it's final descent and landing at 0850. It took another 15 minutes to get parked along a dirt path where the recovery team walked in the last 980 yards to the LZ and spotted the parachute blowing in the wind, and heard the beep beep beep of the audio tracker. The package was in good shape, except the amateur rocket was missing as the line to it had broke, probably during the burst of the balloon and its initial fall back to earth. We drove back to the FITS launch site for some show and tell, and to recover the memorabilia. The FITS T-shirt was inscribed with the balloon launch and recovery details and awarded to one of the rocketeers as a door prize. The other memorabilia was returned to its owners, including the Jameson Lake postcard which made its way back to the resort in appreciation for their kindness, and having the restaurant open so early in the morning. FYI, the lake trout fishing was reported to be excellent.

The followowing chart shows the internal and external temperatures and air pressure at various altitudes during the flight:

Record	MET	Altitude	Temperature	Temperature	Temperature	Temperature	Pressure	Pressure
no.	minutes	feet	inside	inside	air	air	air	mb
1	1	1349	146	56	147	59	218
2	2	2571	142	42	141	38	223	980.72
3	3	3793	142	42	141	38	222	975.76
4	4	5015	142	42	142	42	217	950.93
5	5	6237	142	42	142	42	211	921.13
6	6	7459	142	42	141	38	201	871.48
7	7	8681	142	42	140	35	193	831.75
8	8	9903	142	42	138	28	167	702.64
9	9	11125	142	42	136	21	161	672.85
10	10	12347	141	38	135	17	152	628.16
11	11	13568	141	38	133	10	147	603.33
12	12	14790	140	35	132	6	142	578.50
13	13	16012	140	35	131	3	133	533.81
14	14	17234	138	28	130	-1	125	494.09
15	15	18456	138	28	129	-4	120	469.26
16	16	19678	137	24	125	-18	114	439.46
17	17	20900	137	24	124	-22	109	414.63
18	18	22122	136	21	122	-29	105	394.77
19	19	23344	136	21	121	-32	99	364.98
20	20	24566	135	17	120	-36	95	345.12
21	21	25787	134	14	117	-46	89	315.32
22	22	27009	133	10	116	-50	84	290.49
23	23	28231	133	10	114	-57	82	280.56
24	24	29453	132	6	113	-61	78	260.70
25	25	30675	131	3	112	-64	70	220.97
26	26	31897	130	-1	113	-61	67	206.08
27	27	33119	130	-1	115	-54	64	191.18
28	28	34341	130	-1	115	-54	63	186.21
29	29	35563	130	-1	117	-46	61	176.28
30	30	36785	130	-1	117	-46	60	171.32
31	31	38006	130	-1	118	-43	56	151.45
32	32	39228	131	3	120	-36	53	136.56
33	33	40450	131	3	121	-32	51	126.63
34	34	41672	131	3	120	-36	49	116.69
35	35	42894	131	3	120	-36	47	106.76
36	36	44116	132	6	121	-32	46	101.80
37	37	45338	132	6	122	-29	46	101.80
38	38	46560	132	6	122	-29	42	81.93
39	39	47782	132	6	123	-25	41	76.97
40	40	49004	132	6	123	-25	40	72.00
41	41	50225	133	10	123	-25	38	62.07
42	42	51447	133	10	124	-22	37	57.11
43	43	52669	133	10	124	-22	40	72.00
44	44	53891	134	14	123	-25	35	47.17
45	45	55113	134	14	123	-25	34	42.21
46	46	56335	134	14	124	-22	34	42.21
47	47	57557	135	17	125	-18	33	37.24
48	48	58779	135	17	125	-18	34	42.21
49	49	60001	136	21	129	-4	32	32.28
50	50	61223	136	21	130	-1	33	37.24
51	51	62444	136	21	131	3	31	27.31
52	52	63666	136	21	133	10	31	27.31
53	53	64888	137	24	133	10	31	27.31
54	54	66110	137	24	134	14	33	37.24
55	55	67332	138	28	137	24	30	22.35
56	56	68554	138	28	136	21	30	22.35
57	57	69776	138	28	128	-8	32	32.28
58	58	70998	140	35	138	28	29	17.38
59	59	72220	140	35	141	38	30	22.35
60	60	73442	140	35	142	42	29	17.38
61	61	74663	141	38	142	42	28	12.41
62	62	75885	141	38	143	45	28	12.41
63	63	77107	142	42	143	45	30	22.35
64	64	78329	142	42	144	49	30	22.35
65	65	79551	143	45	143	45	28	12.41

This chart shows climb rate data which indicates an average of about 1500 feet/minute during the climb to altitude, then after the balloon burst the initial descent was as much as 5500 feet/minute and gradually slowed to about 1000 feet/minute as more atmosphere was reached and the parachute was able to work nominally.

Time	Time	Time	MET	Latitude	Latitude	Longitude	Longitude	Direction	Speed	Speed	Altitude	Climb Rate
hours	minutes	seconds	minutes	degree	minute	degree	minute	true north	kt	mph	feet	ft/min
13	55	58	-2	47	41.85	119	37.05	332	0	0	1804
13	56	59	-1	47	41.85	119	37.05	332	0	0	1824
14	22	16	25	47	41.97	119	39.39	291	11	13	30746
14	23	17	26	47	42	119	39.71	311	9	10	32389	1616
14	24	18	27	47	42.07	119	39.98	310	18	21	33921	1507
14	25	19	28	47	42.16	119	40.11	153	4	5	35358	1413
14	26	19	29	47	42.18	119	40.19	326	13	15	36857	1499
14	28	21	31	47	42.36	119	40.31	243	3	3	39899	1496
14	29	21	32	47	42.42	119	40.44	295	11	13	41290	1391
14	30	22	33	47	42.61	119	40.59	306	3	3	42743	1429
14	32	24	35	47	42.95	119	40.75	65	8	9	45614	1412
14	33	24	36	47	43.08	119	40.7	16	14	16	47129	1515
14	34	25	37	47	43.17	119	40.76	307	3	3	48205	1058
14	35	25	38	47	43.34	119	40.93	352	11	13	49573	1368
14	36	26	39	47	43.57	119	41.07	353	17	20	50616	1026
14	37	27	40	47	43.85	119	41.19	326	23	26	51998	1359
14	38	28	41	47	44.01	119	41.3	257	3	3	53379	1358
14	39	29	42	47	44.14	119	41.34	0	8	9	54488	1091
14	40	29	43	47	44.15	119	41.52	327	14	16	55616	1128
14	43	31	46	47	44.54	119	42.11	250	10	12	59720	1353
14	45	33	48	47	44.67	119	42.4	154	8	9	62191	1215
14	46	34	49	47	44.72	119	42.44	325	6	7	63372	1162
14	47	34	50	47	44.84	119	42.47	259	4	5	64559	1187
14	48	35	51	47	44.93	119	42.8	321	20	23	65793	1214
14	49	36	52	47	45.09	119	43	278	7	8	66915	1104
14	50	36	53	47	45.21	119	43.22	280	17	20	68053	1138
14	51	37	54	47	45.34	119	43.48	28	10	12	69178	1107
14	52	38	55	47	45.42	119	43.56	247	4	5	70287	1091
14	53	38	56	47	45.44	119	43.67	326	11	13	71334	1047
14	54	39	57	47	45.53	119	43.96	326	13	15	72489	1136
14	55	40	58	47	45.66	119	44.1	338	9	10	73676	1168
14	56	40	59	47	45.74	119	44.29	316	14	16	74798	1122
14	57	41	60	47	45.97	119	44.41	63	6	7	75897	1081
14	58	42	61	47	45.98	119	44.52	244	13	15	77035	1119
15	0	43	63	47	46.01	119	44.89	289	4	5	79398	1172
15	3	46	66	47	46.01	119	45.71	205	7	8	79493	31
15	4	46	67	47	46.1	119	45.88	315	12	14	74181	-5312
15	6	48	69	47	46.29	119	46.13	291	8	9	65478	-4280
15	7	48	70	47	46.35	119	46.28	264	15	17	62135	-3343
15	8	49	71	47	46.37	119	46.52	310	8	9	59021	-3063
15	9	50	72	47	46.61	119	46.76	335	19	22	56082	-2891
15	10	50	73	47	46.64	119	46.92	283	3	3	53415	-2667
15	11	51	74	47	46.85	119	46.97	4	15	17	50620	-2749
15	12	52	75	47	47.06	119	47.11	275	9	10	48143	-2436
15	13	53	76	47	47.14	119	47.22	334	15	17	45883	-2223
15	14	53	77	47	47.39	119	47.34	346	16	18	43776	-2107
15	15	54	78	47	47.54	119	47.39	293	15	17	41713	-2029
15	16	55	79	47	47.65	119	47.62	289	9	10	39636	-2043
15	17	56	80	47	47.67	119	47.72	339	10	12	37802	-1804
15	18	56	81	47	47.85	119	47.83	312	9	10	36047	-1755
15	19	57	82	47	47.9	119	47.86	338	2	2	34351	-1668
15	20	58	83	47	47.98	119	48.04	284	7	8	32688	-1636
15	21	59	84	47	48	119	48.38	313	11	13	31090	-1572
15	22	59	85	47	48.3	119	48.73	321	25	29	29666	-1424
15	24	0	87	47	48.59	119	49.26	302	23	26	28243	-1400
15	25	1	88	47	48.88