Arizona Near Space Research (ANSR) is proud to announce the flight of ANSR-52. This high altitude balloon flight will take place on Saturday, November 21, 2009 at 9:00 A.M. and will support the Fall '09 semester flight of the Arizona Space Grant Consortium ASCEND! program.

The primary launch site will be the University of Arizona Maricopa Agricultural Center, near Maricopa, AZ (33 deg 04.42 min, 111 deg 58.97 min).

The final launch site choice will depend on the predicted winds aloft. Watch for additional announcements on Friday prior to launch day (see links below).

The vehicle will be a 3000 gram helium-filled latex balloon. The expected burst altitude will be 90,000 feet or higher. The flight is anticipated to last about 2.5 hours from launch to touchdown.

Payload: In addition to ANSR flight computer/cross-band repeater and beacon packages, the balloon train will carry student-built packages containing a variety of scientific apparatus as well as digital cameras to photo-document the flight.

Participants: Groups which have constructed packages to be flown include:
University of Arizona
Arizona State University
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
Pima Community College
South Mountain Community College

We thank the Arizona Space Grant Consortium for helping us fulfill our goal of "Promoting science and education through Amateur Radio and High Altitude Ballooning".
Additional program information:
http://spacegrant.arizona.edu/research/ascend

APRS beacons will transmit position information as follows:
KA7NSR-11 on 445.950 MHz
N7ERU-11 on 445.925 MHz

Our mobile cross-band digi-peater will repeat the N7ERU-11 APRS data to the 144.390 MHz standard APRS frequency and subsequently will be I-Gated to the internet for out-of-area trackers.

You can track the flight using the following links:
http://map.aprsworld.net/n7eru-11
http://aprs.fi/?call=n7eru-11
http://www.findu.com/cgi-bin/find.cgi?call=n7eru-11

Additional and updated flight information, watch / subscribe to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Ballooning -- ANSR remailer

Additional ANSR and High Altitude Ballooning information:
http://ansr.org -- Arizona Near Space Research
http://www.arhab.org -- Amateur Radio High Altitude Ballooning schedules
http://www.arhab.org/ARHABrecords.htm -- Worldwide HAB records tabulation
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We are mourning the tragic and senseless death of our friend, past-president and lead engineer of ANSR. Michael was an inspiration to all ANSR members, NASA Space Grant participants, High Altitude Ballooning and edge of space experimenters worldwide. For further details, follow the thread on ANSR "ballooning" group page at:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Ballooning/message/2810

On behalf of his friends, the ANSR Board of Directors and members, may he rest in peace.

Our thoughts and prayers are with Michael's family and his many friends.

James
AC7ZT

PS. Services and other details will be posted.
Main group page is:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Ballooning/

While conditions are not optimum, we are still "GO!" for the Arizona Space Grant
flight ANSR-48 for 9:00 A.M. Saturday, April 4th. Surface winds will flare up on
Friday, but should subside enough by Saturday morning for the launch from Gila
Bend High School in Gila Bend, AZ.

The front passing through the area on Friday will also bring the Jet Stream such
that our predicted flight path is about 120 miles. The latest prediction can be
viewed at: http://kb7rmz.hopto.org/ansr48-040209.html. Travel time from the
launch site to the recovery area will be about 2.5 hours. Trackers will be
pre-deployed in the recovery area to ensure interception of APRS data as close
to ground as possible.

Check the

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Ballooning/

website Friday evening for updates.

Jack Crabtree, W7JLC
ANSR/AZ Space Grant Liaison
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
Prescott, Az