PBH-8
On March 21, 2009 the group launched their first flight of the year on a routine mission to evaluate the performance of all on-board systems and verify their simulation data for flight dynamics and altitude control. PBH-8 (Project Blue Horizon, flight 8) contained a UHF/VHF link and redundant HF link (Small Wonder Labs Rock Mite in an Altoids tin) on 30 meters for command and control. Also flying was a VHF/UHF repeater, APRS transmitter, an additional GPS receiver, strobe light for night flying and a ballast tank for altitude control. A microprocessor coordinates all onboard systems and manages power and battery life.
Lift off occurred at 10 AM local time in Owego, NY and the air vehicle stabilized at 79,000 feet an hour later—just as predicted. Several ballast drops were performed throughout the day. Given how well the vehicle was performing, the team decided to extend the mission through the night. One last ballast drop was performed via HF to stabilize the vehicle before line-of-sight communication was lost. High altitude winds shifted taking the vehicle on a projected path into the Atlantic so the team, not wanting to lose the payload, commanded an abort, which was not successful. The team determined the vehicle was stable and on course for Newfoundland and opted to continue. Both the FAA and Canadian air authorities were notified and were tracking the balloon on www.APRS.fi
Figure 1: The flight path of PBH-8
from aprs.fi
The air-vehicle descends throughout the night and stabilizes at 32,000 feet. For the next 18 hours it travels at 32,000 feet and 70 MPH. Since the air-vehicle is performing well and there is a high likelihood that the payload would not be recovered, the team decides to further extend the flight and shoot for Greenland. To keep aloft, they need to drop ballast to survive the coming night. Far out of UHF/VHF range, the commands will have to be performed over the HF link.
Two hundred miles off the coast and approaching Newfoundland, several Morse commands were sent to drop ballast. The odds of success are not high. A sizeable crowd assembles at Mission Control as team members, advisors and significant others gather to watch the mission unfold. Chatter subsides to silence as Morse commands are continually sent up to the Air Vehicle. Finally a faint V V V from the air vehicle bleeps out of the HF receiver at Mission Control. Now that communications are reestablished with the Air Vehicle several more ballast drops and puts the vehicle on course for the North Atlantic.
Minutes later, Canadian Air Traffic Control called the team requesting to abort the flight because the apparent flight path will be near a congested flight lane. The team complies and communicates with the vehicle and attempts to execute the abort. The abort command is successful and with not much of Newfoundland left underneath, the air-vehicle comes to rest in a tree.
The team coordinated with hams in NL to recover the payload using GPS coordinates. However, when the team arrived on the scene, there was nothing but snow machine tracks and footprints. One of the Air Traffic Controllers who ordered down the payload recovered it and called the team shortly thereafter.
PBH-8 traveled 1162 miles and spent 33 hours in the air, coming in 2nd place for time aloft by an amateur balloon.