Arduino

Got an Arduino for my birthday, and I'm sooooo excited!

Okay, so you're probably thinking "What the heck is an... arr.. arr... thing?" Well, I'll tell you: It's an open source electronics prototyping platform, so I can make my own rocket payloads and robots and whatever else strikes my fancy.

We used an Arduino last semester for our USLI payload at Iowa State University. We started out using a PIC, which is similar but way more complicated. So we switched over to Arduino and the project moved along five times faster.

I'm looking forward to all of the different projects that will come of this. My first project will probably be a very simple robot, so stay tuned for that!

Payload Taking Shape

The CDV is starting to come together. I've been working on some of the functionality of the design, and composed this drawing:

The idea is to guide the payload in the style of a skydiver, pulling on the parachute shroud lines to cause it to drift in that direction. This is accomplished with a model sailboat servo mounted on the base of the nosecone. All of the shroud lines are anchored to the eye-bolt in the tip of the nose, but additional lines are added to the right and left shroud lines for control. That way the servo doesn't bare any of the shock.

Here's a photo of the nosecone with the servo resting on top:

  

In addition to working on the structure of the payload, we continued to work on the programming of the microcontroller unit. We also started soldering the board together more permanently.

Sadly, we lost a chip. It was a gyro, that measured the angular speed. It must have gotten dropped in the lab somewhere. At least it wasn't the most vital chip, like the GPS unit. We could probably get by without it, because we didn't even write it into the code.

We have only today and tomorrow to get this thing finished.

Crunch Time!

Our University Student Launch Initiative entry has encountered a little bump in the road. We decided we had to abandon our old rocket due to some structural issues, so we're going to have to build an entirely new launch vehicle. The really challenging piece? Our first launch is going to be in the first week of March. So we need to build the rocket, put together a prototype for our electronics, purchase a motor (K1100), and FIND A LAUNCH somewhere in the Midwest. As soon as the parts for the rocket arrive we will be working on building it every night. Then there's another interesting bit. We might not have a level 2 certified member able to go along to the launch. We have three level 2 certified members in the Iowa State Space Society, and at least one of them can't go. So... if worse comes to worst and none of the level 2 members can go, I might be able to launch the rocket as a certification attempt, since I am already level 1 certified. That is, of course, a last resort.

So we have to do all that in about fifteen days. I believe we can do it.

Dangerous MALFUNCTION!

I was prepping the electronics for the next flight of my rocket yesterday, and when I attached the igniter to the electronics terminal... POOF!!! The igniter fired. Needless to say, something was malfunctioning. I checked th manual, and one thing I saw was that if you switch the battery polarity it would result in the immediate firing of any attached igniters. So I checked and triple-checked the terminals, and they were definately in the right order. So I have a puzzle on my hands.

This was a very dangerous situation. Had I stuck the igniter into the motor first, a G71 would have fired in my bedroom!

Things will probably work out, however, because the launch for today got postponed because of rain and thunderstorms, so that gives me time to order new electronics.