Thor 1
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Thor 1 was launched during the Summer of 2005 at BYU-Idaho. Its mission was to go to places no other balloon launched from BYU-Idaho had ever gone.
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Summary
The launch took place on 10 August 2005 at about 11:30am in Aberdeen, Idaho. Telemetry data was successfully transmitted and received during the first 30 minutes of flight, afterwhich the antenna became entangled and ceased to function properly. The payload was found by a resident of Idaho Falls four days later, about nine miles south of Pine Creek Pass, near the Wyoming border. All the pictures taken during its flight turned out excellent, revealing the actual path of the balloon (note: The image showing the path has an inaccurate landing marker; it should actually be about 20 miles east-northeast of the indicated location.)
Payload
- Transmitter - Byonics Pocket Tracker
- GPS - Garmin 18 LVC
- Balloon - Kaymont 350g
- Gas - Helium
- Batteries - Energizer e2 Lithium, Radio Shack D123 Lithium
- Parachute - Donated by Michael Zurich of Germany!
- Camera - Canon SureShot 80 Tele (35mm 800 ISO film)
Statistics
- Max. Altitude About 50,000 feet. (No GPS data available)
- Distance Traveled Approx. 91 miles
- Recovery Time Four Days
Note: the payload actually landed near Swan Valley, not Idaho Falls! Thanks again to Dave Irvin for reminding me, as he was the one that retrieved it, not me.
Launch History
The launch represented over six months of planning by several people. The idea to launch a "weather" balloon started in early 2005 as part of the IEEE semester project. As we researched other similar balloon projects, such as those at EOSS, it became apparent that the balloon could reach as high as 20 miles; this was intriguing to me, because photographs of the horizon at that altitude show only the blueish curvature of the earth. The idea of getting my own pictures up that high generated enough interest in me to dive into the project.
After the summer started, people got busy with marriage commitments, kids, and so forth. I had no such commitments, and plenty of time to apply myself. As such, the number of available students in the summer dwindled, yet I kept busy. We had a small group of about three IEEE members focused on designing the payload and planning for the launch. On the launch date, only two students and one faculty member were present. Notwithstanding our small numbers, it was an exciting climax.
The most amazing thing about this launch was the recovery. Thirty minutes into the flight, the transmitter ceased to function. The last known position report was sent by a digipeter onto the FindU server, reporting an altitude of roughly 19,000 feet and a north-east heading. After we lost contact, we attempted to use a BalloonTrak predication to find the landing site. After a few hours of driving around, we gave up hopes for the day. (It was a good thing we gave up, because we were way off, as we later found out).
We could only surmise that the failure had been caused because the transmitter was improperly tuned, causing it to shift off frequency when it got cold. Thankfully, contact information was zipped inside the payload. Four days after launch, I received a phone call by someone who had discovered the package in the forest near Swan Valley, Idaho. What a lucky coincidence, because I likely would not have otherwise found it! We are currently investigating the cause of the failure, although it does not appear to be due to mechanical failure or faulty wiring.
NSNSDSDS
NSNSDSDS is the name of the software package I designed for my senior project as a Computer Science major at BYU-Idaho. Although NSNSDSDS was completed in time for the launch, the only laptop I had available did not have a decent sound card and so the software could not be used. More on NSNSDSDS.
Future launches
It is hoped that this will be the beggining of several successful launches. During the launch, we stumbled across a NASA funded organization called the RISE project. RISE could greatly help in supporting future launches.
Photos from the Ground
The following photos were taken by our payload (35mm Canon SureShot) or by our cameraman, Mike Ross (5 MegaPixel Nikon).
 Inside the bowels of our payload. |
 Even further inside the bowels of our payload. |
 Getting ready to fill the balloon up. |
 Helium begins to enter into the balloon. |
 About half full. |
 Completely full, Ryan Reed begins tying it off. |
 Having launched the balloon, we set off on the chase. |
 Ain't nothin' here but wide open fields of good'n white wheat. |
 The chase continues... |
Photos from the Balloon
The following photos were taken from the balloon using a Canon SureShot and 400 ISO Advantax film. They turned out great!
 This is the path of the balloon. |
 This shows the likely location of many of the photos. |
 This is photo number 1, taken approximately 1 minutes after launch, at an altitude of approx 2500 feet |
 This is photo number 2, taken approximately 4 minutes after launch, at an altitude of approx 4000 feet |
 This is photo number 3, taken approximately 7 minutes after launch, at an altitude of approx 5500 feet |
 This is photo number 4, taken approximately 10 minutes after launch, at an altitude of approx 7000 feet |
 This is photo number 5, taken approximately 13 minutes after launch, at an altitude of approx 8500 feet |
 This is photo number 6, taken approximately 16 minutes after launch, at an altitude of approx 10000 feet |
 This is photo number 7, taken approximately 19 minutes after launch, at an altitude of approx 11500 feet |
 This is photo number 8, taken approximately 22 minutes after launch, at an altitude of approx 13000 feet |
 This is photo number 9, taken approximately 25 minutes after launch, at an altitude of approx 14500 feet |
 This is photo number 10, taken approximately 28 minutes after launch, at an altitude of approx 16000 feet |
 This is photo number 11, taken approximately 31 minutes after launch, at an altitude of approx 17500 feet |
 This is photo number 12, taken approximately 34 minutes after launch, at an altitude of approx 19000 feet |
 This is photo number 13, taken approximately 37 minutes after launch, at an altitude of approx 20500 feet |
 This is photo number 14, taken approximately 40 minutes after launch, at an altitude of approx 22000 feet |
 This is photo number 15, taken approximately 43 minutes after launch, at an altitude of approx 23500 feet |
 This is photo number 16, taken approximately 46 minutes after launch, at an altitude of approx 25000 feet |
 This is photo number 17, taken approximately 49 minutes after launch, at an altitude of approx 26500 feet |
 This is photo number 18, taken approximately 52 minutes after launch, at an altitude of approx 28000 feet |
 This is photo number 19, taken approximately 55 minutes after launch, at an altitude of approx 29500 feet |
 This is photo number 20, taken approximately 58 minutes after launch, at an altitude of approx 31000 feet |
 This is photo number 21, taken approximately 61 minutes after launch, at an altitude of approx 32500 feet |
 This is photo number 22, taken approximately 64 minutes after launch, at an altitude of approx 34000 feet |
 This is photo number 23, taken approximately 67 minutes after launch, at an altitude of approx 35500 feet |
 This is photo number 24, taken approximately 70 minutes after launch, at an altitude of approx 37000 feet |
 This is photo number 25, taken approximately 74 minutes after launch, at an altitude of approx 40000 feet |
Movies
Mike Ross' awesome 5 megapixel camera gives us the only live footage of the launch.
- Launch Day At 8:00am, Mike Ross head's down with Carson Fenimore to meet the launch team in Blackfoot, Idaho. Traveling in Carson's white Taurus, affectionaly called Smokey for its latent tobacoo odor, we are packing helium, payload, parachute, and two balloons (one extra in case of mishandling). This is probably one of the more action packed movies on this series. Highlight: Passing a tractor!
- Intro This is a good introduction to launch team Thor-1, and company. Not depicted here are the dozens of people who gave their lives to make this project possible (Reason: nobody actually gave their life to make the project possible)
- Filling 2 Preping the balloon for filling.
- Filling 3 Getting a little helium into the balloon.
- Filling 4 More helium.
- Filling 5 Topping the balloon off.
- Pre Launch T minus one minute to launch.
- Launch Launch time. Due to timing constraints, we could not obtain a relay in order to turn on and off the buzzer circuit. Instead, we used a 555 circuit to toggle it. Unfortunately, it's beggining state is ON, instead of off, as would have been preferable to our eardrums. BE WARNED: The buzzer is annoying!
Credits
Several people were instrumental in the flight's success, either by recommending a certain design for the balloon, or by going with us to launch it, or both. A partial list of those who helped is included below:
- Michael Zürich
- Ryan Reed
- April Christensen
- Tony Barrett
- Dave Irvin
Special thanks to Ryan Reed, who went hunting through the back-country of Idaho all day with us, and for taking responsibility of the transmitter! Also thanks for Dave Irvin, who found the balloon, thus completing the project!
