ORB-10 Launched & Recovered
Saturday, May 08, 2004 3:35 PM


ORB-10 filling began at 06:30 CDT and was completed at 06:45 CDT. It was launched at 06:53 CDT with winds @ 5 mph or less. Highest altitude reported was 85,316 feet. Less than expected due to an overfill on my part. : (  We were getting 1000-1100 fpm instead of 900-1000 fpm. This was ORB's highest flight to date.

At, or just after burst, which occurred at 08:07 CDT, the CW beacon became very weak and very hard to copy, it was barely copyable from up to 1/4 mile after landing. The APRS beacon was also weak and at times un-decodable, but was copyable up to recovery. Landing was at 08:40 CDT, 12 miles from launch, at approx.87 degrees and 3 miles from where we had positioned ourselves before burst. We were able to drive to within 1000 feet of the landing site and after a 10 minute hike into the woods we had it retrieved at 09:15 CDT. The balloon remnants were in a small tree about 8 feet off the ground and the
capsules were about 4 feet off the ground.

Initial inspection showed that both the CW beacon antenna and APRS antenna radials had been ripped completely off the tracking capsule along with the audio beacon and the solar cover for the outside air temperature sensor. The only visible damage was on one corner of the capsule. It looked like it took a hit from something that mashed the foam slightly. I think we had a close encounter with aliens! : )

The camera capsule sustained minor exterior damage to the foam where two of the suspension lines attach. Both cameras took a pic approx. every 4 1/2 minutes. The horizontal camera took 24 pictures. Four were on the ground before launch. The vertical camera took 25 pictures and four were also on the ground before launch. The pics from high up are awesome! I will try to get a couple on the website soon. The pic below is one I call "The Dark Side of the Sun". The image is raw & untouched except for the text. I think the black hole in the sun is a product of the CCD imager getting too much light, a very large sunspot, or an alien spacecraft!

Thanks to all who made this another ORB success!
It was a very good day to fly!

73
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Harry - KC5TRB - Tulsa