Well, the launch was a success. The recovery is still a work in progress, however.
The prediction website had forecasted a landing 2 hours later around Yountville, north of Napa, and we headed up that way, hoping to soon get an update from the Pocketfinder that had it safely back into range, and hopefully around where we were waiting for it. At around 5:30, we finally got the notification we had been waiting for. The PocketFinder was back in range again, dropping fast from 34,000 feet, and, astoundingly, was coming down 10 miles from where we were! We couldn't believe that the prediction website had been so accurate, and it was an incredible relief that it was back and seemingly still intact. We had sent a craft into "near space" and it was now returning to earth.
We headed up into the mountains to find the parachute and capsule, and ended up on some very rough back roads. Luckily, we had a 4 wheel drive vehicle. The terrain was much steeper and rougher than we expected as we climbed up further into the mountains, and we were finally led to a vineyard at the top of a mountain in Napa Valley. This was actually a private vineyard, and the owners were kind enough to let us begin exploring the property. Once inside, we hiked to the top of the mountain, and looked for the parachute using the PocketFinder Android/iOS app in conjunction with Google Maps. We finally narrowed it down to an area of about 100 sq. ft., but the area was incredibly dense, thick trees and bushes. We searched for around 2 hours, but to our dismay, we couldn't find it by the time the sun had set, and the light had left the valley. We called it a day, and drove back into town to find a hotel to stay in. We are confident that we will find it tomorrow, and will have the recovered videos up as soon as we do.
The prediction website had forecasted a landing 2 hours later around Yountville, north of Napa, and we headed up that way, hoping to soon get an update from the Pocketfinder that had it safely back into range, and hopefully around where we were waiting for it. At around 5:30, we finally got the notification we had been waiting for. The PocketFinder was back in range again, dropping fast from 34,000 feet, and, astoundingly, was coming down 10 miles from where we were! We couldn't believe that the prediction website had been so accurate, and it was an incredible relief that it was back and seemingly still intact. We had sent a craft into "near space" and it was now returning to earth.
We headed up into the mountains to find the parachute and capsule, and ended up on some very rough back roads. Luckily, we had a 4 wheel drive vehicle. The terrain was much steeper and rougher than we expected as we climbed up further into the mountains, and we were finally led to a vineyard at the top of a mountain in Napa Valley. This was actually a private vineyard, and the owners were kind enough to let us begin exploring the property. Once inside, we hiked to the top of the mountain, and looked for the parachute using the PocketFinder Android/iOS app in conjunction with Google Maps. We finally narrowed it down to an area of about 100 sq. ft., but the area was incredibly dense, thick trees and bushes. We searched for around 2 hours, but to our dismay, we couldn't find it by the time the sun had set, and the light had left the valley. We called it a day, and drove back into town to find a hotel to stay in. We are confident that we will find it tomorrow, and will have the recovered videos up as soon as we do.
I hope you guys find it.
ReplyDeleteIt was interesting to see you guys lauch yesterday
Joe (modeler from FDR school)