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12/11/17 19:47
November 12, 2017
The Frozen Fury has set forth to take on the tasks of 2018. After the ephemeral summers of North Dakota we're ready for a mission to press forward with come winter. We wanted to get started early before the frigid northern winds carried in plummeting temperatures. As with every year, we gained a new pool of talent and set straight to our rover design and sub-scale fabrication. Unfortunately, the winter also wanted to catch up on its tardiness of years past. Our first scheduled launch was cancelled due to an unexpected wall of snow followed by a radical drop in temperature. The sub-scale named Pertinax, first Emperor of the Year of the Five Emperors, was a half-scale cardboard body with sleek and stunning 3-D printed fins (fins made just for this great Pertinax).
Luckily, this weekend we got some respite and were given a window of warmth. We set aside one day to charge tests and assembly in hopes to come in the next day and launch immediately.
…
Well,
No matter how prepared you think you are, the cosmos have other plans. All "we had to do" was tie our parachutes to our avionics bay… and launch. Problem after problem occurred. The sheer pins pushed the camera out of place. The entire bay had to be disassembled to situate everything. Then terminals snapped off of the battery supplying the data logger, a couple of phones decided they were too cold to work properly, some dogs really wanted to participate in the launch, our RF transmitter didn't have what it takes to cut through the cold dry North Dakota air. Eventually, we got new batteries for the avionics and set up the hardwired launch detonator, after 3 failed attempts at remote ignition. At this point team morale began to falter and the realization that we may have to set up future attempts to launch began to sink in.
Contacts are sanded and cables are checked one last time.
We begin our countdown,
5..
4..
3..
2..
1..
Our team lead, Stef, hits the launch button and immediately sighs… and then the glorious sound of that motor igniting and ensuing fury hissed through the air. Momentary elation washed over the team, cheers broke the silence before the anxiety of waiting for apogee and hopes that we would get two charges going off and chutes coming out set in. Then a crack ripped from above and then a second. Two parachutes were out and we had achieved success for the first mission of the year. To add to the beauty of the launch Pertinax landed on the only small pond in the field, finding its mark that we didn't even know we were attempting to hit. The team sprinted off and slid across the ice and gathered remains.
This was the first time in six years where the Frozen Fury team has had a successful scale launch on their first attempt.
Let chaos storm!
Let cloud shapes swarm!
I wait for form.
-"Pertinax" Robert Frost
The Frozen Fury has set forth to take on the tasks of 2018. After the ephemeral summers of North Dakota we're ready for a mission to press forward with come winter. We wanted to get started early before the frigid northern winds carried in plummeting temperatures. As with every year, we gained a new pool of talent and set straight to our rover design and sub-scale fabrication. Unfortunately, the winter also wanted to catch up on its tardiness of years past. Our first scheduled launch was cancelled due to an unexpected wall of snow followed by a radical drop in temperature. The sub-scale named Pertinax, first Emperor of the Year of the Five Emperors, was a half-scale cardboard body with sleek and stunning 3-D printed fins (fins made just for this great Pertinax).
Luckily, this weekend we got some respite and were given a window of warmth. We set aside one day to charge tests and assembly in hopes to come in the next day and launch immediately.
…
Well,
No matter how prepared you think you are, the cosmos have other plans. All "we had to do" was tie our parachutes to our avionics bay… and launch. Problem after problem occurred. The sheer pins pushed the camera out of place. The entire bay had to be disassembled to situate everything. Then terminals snapped off of the battery supplying the data logger, a couple of phones decided they were too cold to work properly, some dogs really wanted to participate in the launch, our RF transmitter didn't have what it takes to cut through the cold dry North Dakota air. Eventually, we got new batteries for the avionics and set up the hardwired launch detonator, after 3 failed attempts at remote ignition. At this point team morale began to falter and the realization that we may have to set up future attempts to launch began to sink in.
Contacts are sanded and cables are checked one last time.
We begin our countdown,
5..
4..
3..
2..
1..
Our team lead, Stef, hits the launch button and immediately sighs… and then the glorious sound of that motor igniting and ensuing fury hissed through the air. Momentary elation washed over the team, cheers broke the silence before the anxiety of waiting for apogee and hopes that we would get two charges going off and chutes coming out set in. Then a crack ripped from above and then a second. Two parachutes were out and we had achieved success for the first mission of the year. To add to the beauty of the launch Pertinax landed on the only small pond in the field, finding its mark that we didn't even know we were attempting to hit. The team sprinted off and slid across the ice and gathered remains.
This was the first time in six years where the Frozen Fury team has had a successful scale launch on their first attempt.
Let chaos storm!
Let cloud shapes swarm!
I wait for form.
-"Pertinax" Robert Frost
