Daniel Sayle, Patrick Byrne, Sarah Kemp, Anna McLeland, Katie Thompson

11/2/10

TEAM MUNCHIESLAUNCH READINESS REVIEW

MISSION OVERVIEW

• The purpose of the balloon satellite Astraios is to test whether or not red algae can survive the harsh environment of near space at an altitude of approximately 30,500 meters or 100,000 feet.

• We expect to prove that even in harsh conditions algae can survive therefore making it an viable option for space colonization and terraforming as a sustainable source of oxygen.

DESIGN OVERVIEW

• Science

• Algae Samples- 2 Cold, 2 Warm, 2 Sealed, 2 Not Sealed

• Sealed vials will be pressurized at an altitude of 1800 meters

• The samples will have padding for protection and cotton balls to soak up any water that might escape.

• The samples in the cold will be in two cube offshoots on top of main cube

• There will also be an additional 4 redundancy samples on board

• Ground samples will be tested at STP simultaneously for control group

DESIGN OVERVIEW• Main Structure

• Two HOBOs -1 for temperature and humidity and 1 for pressure

• Camera

• Heater

• Foam Core Structure

• Foam Insulation

• Flight Cord

DESIGN

DESIGN

TEST RESULTS - SCIENCE

Algae Alive Algae Dead

Algae Cold Test - Kept at -80° C for 40 min and left to dry for 12 hours

TEST RESULTS - SCIENCE • Systems Cold Test

LOGGER GRAPHS FROM COLD TEST

LOGGER TESTS CONTINUED

TEST RESULTS - STRUCTURE

TEST DATE RESULT

Drop Test 10/10 Pass – no damage

Whip Test 10/10 Pass – only minor damage to corner and offshoots

Kick Test 10/10 Pass – no damage

Subsystems Test 10/28 All Systems Go

Cold Test 11/1

Our biggest concern with structural testing was whether the boxes that will contain our cold algae samples would survive. During testing there was only minor damage to these boxes so we are confident our samples and satellite will survive the flight.

REQUIREMENT FLOW DOWNLevel Requirement Detail   0Mission Objectives

A.1 Balloon Sat Astraios shall reach an altitude of approximately 30,500 m during flight

A.2 The balloon sat shall weigh less than 850gA.3 Project Astraios shall cost less than $300 total B Astraios shall carry 4 algae samples in order to study the effects of

a near space environment under varying conditionsC The algae samples shall be successfully recovered and then

analyzed           1

A.1 Astraios shall be fully assembled and tested by November 3, 2010 and then turned in to COSGC on November 5, 2010

A.2 Astraios shall be weighed following assembly to ensure it is within the weight limit. Reconfiguration will occur if necessary.

A.3 Budget manager Sarah Kemp shall ensure that the monetary budget is adhered to

B.1 Team Munchies shall obtain algae from Gulf Coast EcosystemsB.2 Astraios’s design shall quarantine each algae sample from each

other and allow open air exposure for the cold and unpressurised samples

B.3 The samples shall be prepared prior to launch, two in sealed containers and two in ventilated containers

C.1 Extensive testing shall occur to ensure that the design adequately quarantines and protects the samples during flight

C.2 An experiment on the ground shall take place during launch to provide control samples with which to compare the resulting flight samples particularly the pressurized samples.

C.4 The recovered flight samples shall be examined visually in a microscope to determine condition of specimens and most importantly if they are alive.

D.1 The condition of the flight samples shall be compared with the condition of samples established during testing and from ground samples

D.2 Temperature, humidity, pressure and altitude data shall be used to understand under what conditions and at which approximate altitude the samples died if they did.

EXPECTED RESULTS

• Based on our results from testing the algae, we expect that the algae sample that is pressurized and kept relatively warm will survive the extreme conditions best.

• The sample that is unpressurized and exposed to the extreme cold conditions is expected to fare the worst.

• Algae samples that did not survive are expected to exhibit a yellow color and a lack of cellular structure.

• After extensive structural testing we also expect our balloonsat to survive the flight with no or minor damage.

BIGGEST WORRIES

• Getting usable data from the algae

• The survival of the algae in the cold and limited atmosphere

• Keeping the integrity of the samples during the flight

• Katie falling asleep at the wheel or getting lost on the way to the launch site