The weekend has started, and with it the two day closure of the INTA launch site. The STRATOS II team however is too dedicated for excessive relaxing.
To keep progressing towards the launch, we decided to take part of our equipment back to the camping and set up two working stations; one for the electronics team and one for the capsule and recovery team. Of course, the media team also took along their complete headquarters to keep you updated on our activities.
The Capsule team has tweaked the clamp band system for a faster and more reliable separation by increasing the power of the separation burn devices. These changes were desired as the parachute deployment has become part of the safety critical flight termination sequence. The modifications have reduced the burn delay by half. Further activities included the tweaking of the assembly procedures and mounting of a crash resistant data storage unit, also called black boxes, which have been covered during the blog post of day 2 to the side of the payload module.
Launch crew members assembling the clamp band system
In “Cabaña Electronica”, the common room has made way for a more… well, wired interior. In their nest, the Electronics team has performed further tests for the flight termination software, programmed an onboard system self-check, assembled the data storage boards, and continued working on the GUI that will allow three laptops + weather station to communicate in parallel with the brain of the rocket through the Gabriel II launch box. This interface will be used prior to launch for the filling sequence and health monitoring of the rocket, but also forms a convenient access point to program the flight computer’s PCBs or manually activate any of the onboard apparatus for testing purposes.
Cabaña Electronica busy with the final modifications
The change from high-tech INTA working facilities to scouting-grade cabañas comes with some challenges. One of these is the absence of nearby internet. Problems like these require a student-fix, and our telemetry hardware (a home-cooked spiral antenna + accessories) meant for the on-board video downlink was just what we needed to bridge the 3 km gap to the nearest public WiFi hotspot (the café on the other side of the camping).
Aquiring WiFi-signal
Since rocket engineers do not rest on Sundays, we have continued our activities on this day. The members from the Radboud University of Nijmegen have been received at our temporary weekend-headquarters on the camping site. The sensor that they have designed will measure the radio-frequency interference patters. More about this story on our next update post, so stay tuned!
Enjoying the evenings
Our extra hard work during the day is compensated with some well-deserved relaxing in the evenings. Every day a team of culinary chef cooks is selected to brew a simple, tough nutritious meal, as well as a washing crew that keeps the dishes in near-clinic condition (to student standards, that is). The remainder of the team enjoys throwing frisbees on the roof tops, or relaxes on the beach with a cool beer or soda, enjoying the starry midnight sky and swimming in the swimming pool of the camping site
