NSL-92

In the early morning hours of 31-May 2022, there was expected to be increased meteor activity dubbed the Tau Herculid shower. Some researchers believed that there was even a chance of a meteor storm. Robert, Matthew, and Paul L. were headed out to a dark site to watch for meteors in the early hours. So Paul decided to also fly a pair of low light cameras to 30km, just in case there was a storm. This would be a test of some low light settings and also of a simple styrofoam wing to attempt to reduce the spin on the payload -- basically a re-flight of NSL-87.

The small payload from NSL-91 was recharged and readied for flight. The same RunCam and Dolphin cameras as well as the usual AP510 APRS and TBeam LoRa trackers were also used. The same 1cm x 12cm x 100cm strip of styrofoam was lightly duct taped to the side of the payload opposite to the cameras (see NSL-87 for images of payload). At 0010EDT that morning the payload was launched with a 600g cell of H2.

The payload ascended as expected while Robert, Matthew, and Paul drove to the Jordan Lake Dam to find a dark sky. Many meteors were seen (~60/hr), but no storm. Meanwhile aboard the payload, it climbed-up out of Apex to the east, then changed directions to the southwest towards Jordan Lake.

As the flight ascended through the troposphere it encountered a two minutes of very strong turbulence. During this, the video recorded the sound of the wing being ripped off of the payload; followed by 15 minutes of fast spinning. The wing had worked well holding back the spins, but with it gone all of those twists in the line were released.

As the payload cleared 25km, the spins started to slow down a bit. The flight floated directly up over the dam area where the chase team was watching the sky. As both tracker antennas were atop the payload, an antenna 'shadow' was created below it. The LoRa receiver in Paul's chase car directly below lost communication.

Some scenes from the Dolphin camera. Given some imagination (and Gamma adjustment), the Milky Way is just visible.

After seeing meteors and feeding the Jordan Lake mosquitoes, the chase team drove to the west to record the final landing spot of the payload. They were in the general neighborhood when it landed, but did not see anything in the dark. The landing position telemetry was recorded in some woods of Bear Creek, NC; so the team went home to sleep.

The cameras continued to operate until dawn revealing that the payload had punched through the trees and was actually laying on the ground. It took a week before Paul had an opportunity to head back out to the site and meet up with the land owners. They found the payload on the ground.
There had been a brief shower in the meantime and the PVA string attaching the payload to the line had released as expected. Except the payload was already on the ground and it wasn't really needed. But it made for a quick recovery.

There is a lot of video to go through with the gamma cranked up. But at this time no meteors have been spotted on video.