SystemsGo had a productive first day today in spite of a long night on the road getting in around 0200 and a short night of sleep. They were at the range bright and early Sunday morning to set up for the launches and finish and evaluate rockets.
The SystemsGo team split into groups. Captain Garrett and Steve Burow headed up the group at the pad setting up the launch rail. Robert Dever and Randy Kuhlmann set up the Fill and Fire system and proceeded with on-site testing. Brett Williams and Chelsea Burow rolled out all the cabling and connected the electrical systems and after which they helped Andrew Matthes who was overseeing the student groups with final checks and problem solving on rockets.
The first four schools for this Goddard level program were there with their rockets ready for leak and readiness tests. These tests are standard operating procedure used to create safeguards and ensure a successful launch as long as there are no internal parameters that cause the rocket to fail. No rocket will launch without passing these tests. An initial fail does not mean that the rocket is scratched for launch, only that the school has a short window of time in which to correct the issue so that it may be retested, pass and proceed to launch. Time constraints do not allow for continuous testing so the vehicle must pass quickly or be pulled from the launch sequence.
Marble Falls first test showed a minor problem, they were able to fix the issue and passed their second test. They are ready to launch and are scheduled as the first school for tomorrow morning at 0830.
Anahuac is scheduled to launch second tomorrow, but they are currently still working to resolve an issue shown in their test.
Union Grove is scheduled as first launch on Tuesday morning. They passed all their leak and readiness tests and are on standby for launch from 1200 to 1600 Monday in the event that Anahuac is not ready, or extra time allows.
Booker T Washington passed their leak test. They are scheduled as the second launch on Tuesday and are currently still finishing some last minute adjustments.
Set up and systems tests also went well. The new Fill and Fire system tested at 100% minus the Comm Readout Displays because a thunderstorm and lightning in the area prevented them from setting up that part of the system. This display allows mission control and the pad to communicate by sight through a constantly evolving digital readout in order to better coordinate launch sequences without the delay of radio communications, allowing for more safety and efficiency during the Fill and Fire, and count down stages. This last component will be set up early Monday morning and will complete its readiness check before the first launch, putting the full system at 100%.
A few members of the SystemsGo team got drenched in the fast approaching storm while they were down at the pad trying to put Marble Falls’ rocket on the rail so that it would be ready for launch Monday morning. Instead it was covered and left to be raised on the rail early Monday morning.
The Army has allotted an eight-hour window for testing tomorrow. The day begins at 0400 at the range for the SystemsGo team to accomplish these last necessities left from set up today. Then at 0600 the survey team shows up provide angel and azimuth settings for the launches to ensure they perform in a set area of the range for safety and recovery. Then if everything is in perfect order, Marble Falls will test their rocket launching at 0830. Anahuac or Union Grove will follow as quickly in succession as readiness allows.
www.systemsgo.org as always is the place for more information on this program. Take the time to get your school involved, the future of your students will be greatly benefited. SystemsGo is a Texas based STEM curriculum program.
Tune in again tomorrow for an update from Monday and a schedule of Tuesday’s launches at White Sands Missile Range this week.
On the Wings of Angels 