KySat and Lunar Rocket and Rover have retrieved the booster that
may have malfunctioned during the Space Express mission - displayed here - and are working with other experts in hopes of identifying the primary reason for the failure. Thanks, Tyler, for passing the pictures along.
Wayne
Thanks to the efforts of Tyler Doering and Sam Hishmeh, a complete set of images taken during Space Express may be found here.
Wayne
The Louisville Cardinal published an article today on the KySat Space Express mission, "Launch proves successful without going into space." Key quote:
Kentucky is paving the way to integrating love of learning and appreciation of engineering by giving students the opportunity to become a part of making history.
The Space Express category on the blog has more news and stories about the mission.
Wayne
The Murray Ledger and Times on Monday published a piece on the participation of Amber-Rose White and Keith Bux in the KySat Space Express mission. The online article includes a couple of photos of Amber-Rose and Keith holding the dart (capsule), into which the student designed electronics have been integrated.
As always, please send along news about KySat and student participants and I'll be sure to link to it. My email address can be found in the right hand column of the blog.
And if you haven't seen it, check out the launch video. Thanks Tyler for assembling the file and getting it on YouTube!
Wayne
White Sands Missile Range just recently released video and photos to KySat. Here is a collection of the photos ending in a video of the launch.
Tyler
Morehead State University posted a news release yesterday about MSU student participation in the KySat Space Express mission. Dr. Ben Malphrus, who serves as the GroundOps lead for KySat and is the space science director at the university, is quoted throughout.
Wayne
I've added a Flickr badge to the blog that displays some of the images taken while in New Mexico for KySat Space Express. I hope you enjoy the pictures, located in the right sidebar (page down to see them), and plan to use the badge - or perhaps other, similar, methods - to provide images of KySat for you.
Wayne
I missed this story of the KySat Space Express mission from the Daily Independent in Ashland. As noted in the article, the Morehead State University Space Science Center will serve as the main ground control station for the orbital mission in 2008.
Wayne
The Super Loki and KySat Space Express leaving the ground at White Sands Missile Range. It was quite a sight!
Wayne
The images from top to bottom: The team assembled on the pad with the launch vehicle in its "rail" about an hour before launch. The second is the launch vehicle, a Super Loki. The third picture is the dart (capsule containing the student designed payload) integrated with the launch vehicle. The last image is of the emblems of the KySat ownership group on the Super Loki.
Wayne
Here are a couple pictures from payload integration taken on Tuesday that I wanted to share. Despite the fact that the launch vehicle did not reach its targeted 127km altitude, the student designed payload sent in-flight data.
The payload below was later fitted inside the dart (capsule). I'll share more photos tomorrow when I'm back in Lexington.
Wayne
KySat thanks the Space Express student team and mission advisors for their incredibly hard work and the performance of their systems and payload. The design and successful integration of the Space Express payload was, despite the failure to reach the targeted altitude of 127km, an essential step in the continued development of the initiative toward the first orbital mission, projected to launch in mid to late 2008.
Wayne
The team just finished its final briefing before flying. Tyler went down the agenda - arrival, set up, launch, debriefing. Dr. Lumpp finished by congratulating the students the tremendous effort over the past few days, saying that one way or the other the mission has been a success. This team, KySat, would be the first student team to launch from White Sands. Kris concluded by pointing out the history of the moment. Kentucky is going to space.
The time is 4:45a.
Wayne
The team has been busy today getting ready to fly tomorrow.
The dart (payload capsule) and payload arrived from Los Almitas CA. The booster arrived Monday from Cap Canaveral.
Students spent the day testing ground stations and the payload. The bulk off the time has been spent integrating the payload into the dart, the balance of which is very important. It was handled by gloves and weighed out gram by gram. Ground station testing is complete. Two ground stations, located about five miles east of the launch site, will be set up very early tomorrow morning. Testing was done today to confirm packet reception. Their placement should offer a good profile of the launch. Given the early morning launch window, the sun should be rising over the mountains behind the launch site.
After a full day, the dart weighs 13.56 pounds, is balanced and ready to go. Now it's a matter of getting everything packed and transported to the launch site. Pictures to follow soon.
The team will arrive shortly after 5a to prepare for a 9a to 10a launch widow.
The team has successfully landed in El Paso and traveled to Las Cruces. This morning started early with the team getting the security badges for White Sands Missile Range. We then had a briefing with range personal about the range at 9:00 AM as Kris mentioned. The team then had the opportunity to tour the Range Command and Control Center. The Command and Control Center is where the two radar operators will track the Space Express Payload during flight. After learning all about the different missions that the Command and Control Center Tracks. The final objective of the day that was accomplished was the reconnaissance and picking of the ground station locations that will gather the telemetry from the Space Express Payload. Two ground stations will be located roughly 5 miles east of the launch and the third ground station will be located roughly 600 feet behind the launch pad.
The final objective of the day was to up pack all the ground station hardware brought from Kentucky by the team. We set up all ground stations as they would be at the missile range and sent test packets using a back up payload. All test where completed successfully.
The payload integration with the DART will begin early Tuesday morning where the "Name in Space Memory Card" and calibration will take place. Ground stations are up and running so stay tuned for more pictures and status of the telemetry payload.
Tyler
The launch window on Wednesday for KySat Space Express has changed. It's now 9 am MST - 11 am MST. I will be en route to New Mexico Tuesday morning and will post when I can. More later.
Meanwhile, a complete listing of posts related to this sub-orbital mission may be found here.
Wayne
Anticipating an excellent weather forecast for December 5th in White Sands, New Mexico and with all systems looking good...the countdown for Space Express is continuing on schedule with no expected "holds". The mission team arrived on Sunday 12/2 and will have a pre-launch briefing with White Sands officials on Monday 12/3 at 9AM MST (11AM EST). From there they will spend the rest of the day (continuing through Tuesday) making final preparations for the mission. One issue to be addressed involves calibration. There will be some initial calibration to ensure that the ground station team gets the best telemetry possible. Currently, there is roughly a 1 G offset in the acceleration sensors. This calibration will be added to the software and will updated and finalized before launch. Watch here for regular updates and pictures throughout the launch from White Sands.
Kris
Here's another picture of the launch vehicle for the December 5 KySat Space Express launch.
Again, the operational details, including a description of the hardware and software that will fly, as well as the telemetry that will be used, may be found online in this PowerPoint file.
Look for all posts related to the mission in the Space Express category on the blog.
Wayne
Things have been are ramping up quickly for the Space Express launch scheduled to blast off in just under five days. As Kris mentioned, Robert from Lunar Rocket and Rover has suggested a thermal insulating foam be placed between the custom printed circuit board KySat students designed and the DART walls. Some high temperature fiber glass will be wrapped around the payload as well to provide more strength to survive the 50 G's of acceleration at launch. Members of the KySat Design Build team Micheal Gailey, Samuel Hishmeh and myself have a conference call scheduled with LR&R to discuss the difference aspects for adding the thermal insulation and high temperature fiber glass.
Two of the ground stations for gathering telemetry have have been shipped to New Mexico and two more stations will be brought with the team on Sunday when flying out to New Mexico. The team is currently busy gathering all test equipment in preparation for the departure this weekend.
Initial calibration of the telemetry sensors on a backup payload is being performed this week. This calibration will inserted into the custom software written by the KySat students. A final calibration will take place on Monday with the payload set to be launched to space on Wednesday. These calibrations will take care of the small G offsets mentioned before.
All team members are busy and excited for a successful launch on Wednesday. Stay tuned in for final update before the team departs to New Mexico.
Tyler
KySat mission adviser Jim Lumpp was on-site last week at the headquarters of Lunar Rocket and Rover (LR&R) Company in Los Alamitos, California for preflight checks on the Space Express capsule and payload. A complete assessment of the hardware was completed as well as a review of the launch procedures for White Sands. All parties were pleased at how well the Space Express payload integrated into the rocket.
The payload fit the capsule very well and was sending data packets when triggered. The rocket will need about 4 lbs of ballast, mostly in the nose. Those weights will be machined and added. The Super Loki booster (first-stage) is now in transit from Cape Canaveral to WSMR.
LR&R is recommending that a little foam be added to insulate the boards from the heat. The changes to the insulation are expected to be fairly straightforward.The ground software still needs minor work for some G-force offsets.
The Space Express launch team will leave Sunday 12/3 for White Sands for final preflight preparations and testing. All systems are "go" for the 12/5/07 launch. Stay here for progress reports and a real-time feed from White Sands and the launch.
Kris
Just thought I'd post this picture from the KySat and KySat Space Express briefing materials available here. The suborbital Space Express mission will launch on December 5 with a non-recoverable payload from White Sands, New Mexico.
The primary purpose of Space Express is to test subsystems and processes for future orbital KySat missions now in development for 2008 launches.
Mission details about Space Express may be found in this Powerpoint.
Wayne
This is just a reminder that KySat Space Express will launch from White Sands New Mexico on December 5! More background, including a Powerpoint with mission details, can be found on this page.
The primary purpose of Space Express is to test subsystems and processes being developed for future orbital KySat missions now in development with launch targets beginning in 2008.
A key objective of KySat is to make rapid and inexpensive access to space available for small payloads.
The mission will use Lunar Rocket & Rover Co., Shadow 1D launch system.
I will be on-site blogging the events so stick around for more on KySat's exciting step toward space!
Wayne
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