Showing posts with label New Mexico. Show all posts
Showing posts with label New Mexico. Show all posts
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Best of Luck!
We at Team Phoenicia have been a little silent. We have had some serious manufacturing issues with our parts and as a consequence a funding issue as well. However, we're highly likely, almost guaranteed actually, to be out there flying next year. We will be continuing the team's quest for the X Prizes without pause, at least until someone takes the purses.
That said, we do wish Armadillo and TrueZer0 the best of luck tomorrow and on Saturday. We're not in LC do to other scheduling issues. Even our LC based folks are unable to make it, which is just a shame. Good luck, guys.
DON'T break a lander leg.
We'll be posting more soon. Promise. We have some exciting videos to share shortly.
PS: Guys, hit up La Posta while you're there.
That said, we do wish Armadillo and TrueZer0 the best of luck tomorrow and on Saturday. We're not in LC do to other scheduling issues. Even our LC based folks are unable to make it, which is just a shame. Good luck, guys.
DON'T break a lander leg.
We'll be posting more soon. Promise. We have some exciting videos to share shortly.
PS: Guys, hit up La Posta while you're there.
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Flight Safety Zones
From Inner Most to Outer Most:
Safety Clear Zone (domes on the launch and landing pads): Where the team works without any other personnel within that zone while the rocket is grounded.
Soft Abort Zone (inner most yellow polygon): This is where the rocket has the pilot override and try to get it to teh landing pad mnually.
Hard Abort Zone (inner most blue polygon): This is where the Primary Dead Man's Switch is triggered because it has deviated from the planned flight path in such a manner as to be dangerous.
Operating Area (outer most yellow polygon): This is the area large enough to contain all the potential debris from the instanteous impact point analysis.
Flight Hazard Zone (out most blue polygon): The outer bubble for safety based on FAA regulations.
There's a lot of detail we are leaving out, okay a massive amount, but this ought to give you some eye candy and some insight into what and why the paperwork is so hefty to fly even a bitty rocket like our own.
Monday, August 18, 2008
Briefing Holloman: Instantaneous Impact Point
As a team, we have been preparing for briefings we have to give at Holloman AFB on Tuesday and Wednesday. We're excited and a little daunted by the task. There will be teams there that have been doing this for a few years. There will be people from Holloman and FAA that are experts in this and want to make sure we're not crazy as a loon with a rocket pack.
One of the single most important aspects of this presentation is that of safety. How are our procedures on the ground going to be? If your rocket goes nuts, what will happen? How will we react? This is actually probably as important as anything else, if not more so, than what you do for the rest of the project. We're not going to run through the whole of what we did to prepare for this, but we would like to talk about the instantaneous impact point.
The instantaneous impact point (IIP) is the spot where the rocket will crash land based on the position and trajectory of the vehicle when things go wrong. This is really crucial to know at any given time during a rocket's flight because that will dictate where the public and uninvolved should be cleared from and what property may be damaged. IIP is actually more important to track than the position of the vehicle since what the rocket may damage is of more concern to the flight safety folks than the rocket itself.
We of Team Phoenicia, with the advise of some friends that work in the flight safety business for a test range, did a quick analysis of The Wind at Dawn. It turned out that the back of envelope calculations we had done for an estimate for our safety zones fit pretty closely to our first order model. With the help of our graphics powerhouse friend up in the cold, cold north, we produced a video for the presentation.
There are a few things to note about this. One, it's not a perfect representation. It's a first order model and therefore needs some fine tuning. Second, you ought to realize that the higher you go, the greater the radius is when the rocket loses its marbles and crashes - if it does at all! Our job is to make sure this is unnecessary. However, the flight folks, Holloman and FAA, really need this. We'll, of course, give them the numbers too if they ask, but we'll wait and see.
IIP: know it or no flying.
More another time. There's a plane to catch!
One of the single most important aspects of this presentation is that of safety. How are our procedures on the ground going to be? If your rocket goes nuts, what will happen? How will we react? This is actually probably as important as anything else, if not more so, than what you do for the rest of the project. We're not going to run through the whole of what we did to prepare for this, but we would like to talk about the instantaneous impact point.
The instantaneous impact point (IIP) is the spot where the rocket will crash land based on the position and trajectory of the vehicle when things go wrong. This is really crucial to know at any given time during a rocket's flight because that will dictate where the public and uninvolved should be cleared from and what property may be damaged. IIP is actually more important to track than the position of the vehicle since what the rocket may damage is of more concern to the flight safety folks than the rocket itself.
We of Team Phoenicia, with the advise of some friends that work in the flight safety business for a test range, did a quick analysis of The Wind at Dawn. It turned out that the back of envelope calculations we had done for an estimate for our safety zones fit pretty closely to our first order model. With the help of our graphics powerhouse friend up in the cold, cold north, we produced a video for the presentation.
There are a few things to note about this. One, it's not a perfect representation. It's a first order model and therefore needs some fine tuning. Second, you ought to realize that the higher you go, the greater the radius is when the rocket loses its marbles and crashes - if it does at all! Our job is to make sure this is unnecessary. However, the flight folks, Holloman and FAA, really need this. We'll, of course, give them the numbers too if they ask, but we'll wait and see.
IIP: know it or no flying.
More another time. There's a plane to catch!
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
We are LIVE!
Welcome to Team Phoenicia's blog!
We're dusting everything off for our fun and games PR wise. Multiple people have probably paid call on our oh-so-quiet blog. It's not because we wanted to be quiet. it is merely because we had to. There are some rules with regards publicity and announcements by the X Prize Foundation. This is merely so that everyone is coordinated with regards to the talking heads, etc.
So what are we doing?
We are attempting to aim for the Google Lunar X Prize.
Hold the phone/block on that socket! You are announced by the X Prize Foundation as participating in the Lunar Lander Challenge NOT the Google Lunar X Prize.
That's right! We're working on the LLC as a demonstration phase for our backers. The LLC vehicle, The Wind at Dawn, is not a direct prototype for the GLXP landing stage. It is, however, a step in that direction. We are only entering into the Second Level of the LLC where our lander must fly for 180 seconds and put down on a lunar simulant landing pad.
Once we have completed our demonstration here for our backers, we will be moving on to register for the GLXP.
Who are we?
We are a team of techno types from mostly government lab/test range day jobs.
The Team Leader, William Baird, works in the supercomputing field. Wes Pickens works in specialized antenna development. Brandon Rohrer works in advanced human-robotics interfacing, namely prosthetics. Shane Thomas works in programming for a test range. Lyudmila Baird is a former government accountant and currently a student. That's a little vague, but we're very well known in our respective fields. This isn't wholly inclusive of everyone in Team Phoenicia for the GLXP effort. It is inclusive of everyone in the LLC effort.
Who are your backers?
This is a bit of a pitch and thank you to the companies that are backing us.
First up is Wind River. These guys have provided us with software and persuasive support in a big, big way. They really have been there for us. They're software is top notch and their people have been very, very responsive.
Secondly we have Ansoft. Their help has been invaluable. Their software is the big hammer of RF/Microwave design.
Finally, of our public backers, we do not want to leave out Emachineshop. Without their expertise and support, we would not have been able to build The Wind at Dawn.
We hope to announce a handful more backers very, very soon.
So where are you now?
We are a little behind schedule, but our design is complete. Our parts are on order and will arrive very shortly. We are planning on doing our first test fires of the prototype engine shortly. Our software is humming along. We have done simulations and plenty of analyses. If anything, we'd have to say we've done more paperwork in support of licenses and participation than we've needed to do rocket science. (o.O)
Our recommendation for any team in the future is that they have a person dedicated to just doing the paperwork. We are not kidding about that at all.
We will try to have an update daily.
We're dusting everything off for our fun and games PR wise. Multiple people have probably paid call on our oh-so-quiet blog. It's not because we wanted to be quiet. it is merely because we had to. There are some rules with regards publicity and announcements by the X Prize Foundation. This is merely so that everyone is coordinated with regards to the talking heads, etc.
So what are we doing?
We are attempting to aim for the Google Lunar X Prize.
Hold the phone/block on that socket! You are announced by the X Prize Foundation as participating in the Lunar Lander Challenge NOT the Google Lunar X Prize.
That's right! We're working on the LLC as a demonstration phase for our backers. The LLC vehicle, The Wind at Dawn, is not a direct prototype for the GLXP landing stage. It is, however, a step in that direction. We are only entering into the Second Level of the LLC where our lander must fly for 180 seconds and put down on a lunar simulant landing pad.
Once we have completed our demonstration here for our backers, we will be moving on to register for the GLXP.
Who are we?
We are a team of techno types from mostly government lab/test range day jobs.
The Team Leader, William Baird, works in the supercomputing field. Wes Pickens works in specialized antenna development. Brandon Rohrer works in advanced human-robotics interfacing, namely prosthetics. Shane Thomas works in programming for a test range. Lyudmila Baird is a former government accountant and currently a student. That's a little vague, but we're very well known in our respective fields. This isn't wholly inclusive of everyone in Team Phoenicia for the GLXP effort. It is inclusive of everyone in the LLC effort.
Who are your backers?
This is a bit of a pitch and thank you to the companies that are backing us.
First up is Wind River. These guys have provided us with software and persuasive support in a big, big way. They really have been there for us. They're software is top notch and their people have been very, very responsive.
Secondly we have Ansoft. Their help has been invaluable. Their software is the big hammer of RF/Microwave design.
Finally, of our public backers, we do not want to leave out Emachineshop. Without their expertise and support, we would not have been able to build The Wind at Dawn.
We hope to announce a handful more backers very, very soon.
So where are you now?
We are a little behind schedule, but our design is complete. Our parts are on order and will arrive very shortly. We are planning on doing our first test fires of the prototype engine shortly. Our software is humming along. We have done simulations and plenty of analyses. If anything, we'd have to say we've done more paperwork in support of licenses and participation than we've needed to do rocket science. (o.O)
Our recommendation for any team in the future is that they have a person dedicated to just doing the paperwork. We are not kidding about that at all.
We will try to have an update daily.
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