

	Synopsis of SLI Events A&M Rocket Launching at Manchester Sod Farm On Saturday, June 5th, 2004 at around 9:00 am, the Alabama A&M Rocket Team arrived in Manchester, Tennessee at the Huntsville Area Rocketry Association (HARA) launch site. NASA scientists and HARA members’ mentored A&M students in the construction of a 13 ft. Proteus rocket fondly named Butch, the name of A&M’s mascot. The launch of this massive rocket wouldn’t take place for another hour and a half. During this time A&M took the time to prepare the rocket for launch. The day was sunny and pleasant, around 80 degrees. The University of Alabama Huntsville (UAH) was preparing their rocket for launch as team A&M was arriving. At around 10 am, UAH was ready to launch. Around 11:25 a.m. Butch was ready for launch. During pretest on the rocket, the fuel grain, a crucial element of the rocket, was thought to have been damaged. Luckily, the pretense was false and A&M proceeded with nervous stomachs and crossed fingers in the debut launch of Butch. The launching of the rocket was an amazing sight. The rocket was completely out of sight for at least a minute and a half. The main chute was set to deploy at 900 feet along with a backup charge that would ignite 6seconds after the first. Everyone was ecstatic and relieved by the success of the flight and how the rocket landed unharmed. The altitude reading was around 8,834 ft in which was only about 1700 ft from the goal height. The rocket did not achieve the desired altitude because the tank laid in the sun for about an hour and a half. Future precautions will be to have a tent prepared for the rocket at the launch site. A&M is very happy and proud of the outcome. They feel like all their hard work has paid off. The Alabama A&M University rocket team members are: Angela Lawson, Harold Penn, John Martin, Jimmy Pleasant, William Miller, Lionel Macklin, Talicia Williams, Alicia Taylor, Rivera Wheeler, and Jessica Cartier. Boulder Colorado Space Hardware Program Workshop On June 12- 14, 2003, six Alabama A&M University students were selected to attend a Starting Students Space Hardware Program II Workshop. Angela Lawson, John Martin, William Miller, Harold Penn, Jimmy Pleasant, and Talicia Williams departed from Huntsville, Alabama airport on Thursday June 11 for Boulder, Colorado. Everybody was confident that this experience would prove beneficial for them. The objective of the workshop was to construct a balloon cube SAT (a payload in the shape of a cube) in which would be launched to travel up in to the atmosphere at a goal height of 90,000 ft. While the Sat was traveling up, there would be a camera that would be programmed to take pictures in intervals and HOBO devices would also be included in the cube SAT to collect data of both temperature and pressure. The balloon would deflate on its own and the cube SAT would then land. By using a GPS tracking device the SAT could be found and retrieved. Registration, “Soldering”, and “Timing Circuit, Power, and Camera Integration” Thursday June 12, 2003, day one of the workshop, our team arrived in time to introduce ourselves and tell where we were from. The workshop started with goals of providing knowledge that could be taught to others. We started out with several hands on activities. The first hand on activity was soldering. Each person had to solder on a printed circuit board. The instructions and illustrations in the handbook was a big help. The final product was two light bulbs that were operated by a 9V battery and was a success. Our second hands on activity involved Timing Circuit, Power, and Camera Integration. We were given 120 minutes to build the timing circuit with 12V power, prepare camera, and then integrate Timing Circuit, Power, and Camera. In this activity, our team finished first. Balloon Sat Construction, Switches, Integration, Test, & Solar Experiment A key component to the balloon sat was the cube made out of the foam core. It held everything (circuits, camera, and the HOBO) together. Making the cube was probably the most time consuming activity during the whole balloon sat program. It was scheduled to last only 3 hours and 15 minutes over a span of two days, but it took us 6 hours for a span of two days. We performed two experiments. We had an experiment to measure pressure and temperature. We measured the temperature with solar panels plugged into a HOBO unit. To put the solar panels on the box we had to cut two holes in the box to attach the solar panels to fit snuggly. The HOBO unit went inside the box and we ran the wire from the HOBO Unit to the solar panels. The pressure was measured with a HOBO pressure unit. Two square holes had to be cut out for the switches that we put in the box. One switch was for the timing circuit used for the camera. The other switch was for the heating circuit. We ran wire from the switches to the two circuits inside the box. To put the cube on the balloon we had to put a balloon attachment on it. The balloon attachment consisted of two poles, one larger than the other in diameter. We had to cut a hole at the bottom of the box where we inserted the larger pole. We ran the larger pole through the bottom of the cube to the top of the cube. A clamp was put on the pole to keep it from going through the top of the cube. Next we cut a hole in the top of the cube to slide the smaller pole in. We slid the smaller pole inside the larger pole. Then we put a clamp on the smaller pole to keep it from going through the bottom of the cube. Now the cube was complete. Conclusion The Alabama A&M University team’s balloon cube SAT reached the highest altitude of 91,000 ft. The pictures were awesome; they were clear shots of earth and space. All the data from the HOBO devices were recovered. The SAT was found unharmed in an open field about 20 miles from where it was launched. This was definitely a very cheerful day for team A&M. Alabama A&M team also received an award for most enthusiastic team. This learning experience was a milestone that showed us what we are capable of doing. Many of us have different backgrounds and career choices, but we came together as a team and got the job done. To have the opportunity to see something we made together as a team and go such an outstanding height was credit in its own. This gave us a deeper drive and inspiration to reach for even higher goals and dreams and to accomplish even larger and more outstanding results. Author: Angela Lawson-Macklin