SHARK UAV Recovery Mission
A team of engineers from the University of Stuttgart and Astos Solutions is currently searching for the SHARK capsule that was lost in the impact area of the ESRANGE rocket range (see here).
Two UAVs equipped with a high resolution camera are used to take images of the potential impact area. Four days the team will stay in the impact area analyzing the images on site. The UAVs are developed by the Institute of Flight Mechanics and Control of the University of Stuttgart (IFR). This institute was also the origin of Astos Solutions (see history) and there is still a close cooperation between Astos Solutions and the IFR.
SHARK is a CIRA capsule designed as a piggy back payload for MAXUS-8 with the aim to:
- flight testing an advanced UHTC hot structure component (the nose of SHARK)
- demonstrate the "Reentry Black Box" concept that is of very much interest for ESA.
Mission Log:
[2010-06-17 15:30MEST]
UAVs and luggage are stowed in large aluminum boxes, ready to be flown to Kiruna.
[2010-06-18 18:00MEST]
The engineering team arrived in Kiruna. They were flown by helicopter to ESRANGE rocket area and installed their base camp. Tomorrow the SHARK searching activities will start.
[2010-06-19 15:30MEST]
An applicable start and landing area for the UAVīs has been discovered. Due to bad wheater with rain shower no flights can be performed today. But forecast predicts that weather will pick up during next days.
[2010-06-20 19:00MEST]
No recovery flights were possible today. Unfortunately the wind was too strong for secure UAV operations.
[2010-06-21 21:30MEST]
Today the engineering team found fins of a MAXUS rocket while exploring the surrounding area by foot. It is not clear to which mission of MAXUS this fins belong to. Nevertheless also today no recovery flights were possible due to weather reasons. Therefore the mission will be extend till Friday evening. Return flight from Kiruna to Germany will be on Sunday. Originally the
end of the research mission was planned to be tomorrow evening. Forecast
announces perfect flight weather on thursday and friday.
[2010-06-22 16:30MEST]
At the moment wind at ESRANGE rocket area is 30km/h in average with blasts up to 70km/h making any UAV flight impossible. According to the forecast wind will calm down to 10km/h Wednesday evening. This value is expected to stay unchanged till Friday. At this conditon the UAVīs would be able to fly. Rain is not announced at Thursday as well. Probably this day will be the most applicable to take photos and searching the landing site of SHARK.
[2010-06-23 21:00MEST]
--- First UAV flight today! ---
On late afternoon the reserch team was able to fly with one of their UAVīs. The wind calmed down making it possible to take photos of the base camp surrounding area. This photos are currently evaluated. Furthermore weather forecast stays unchanged predicting also good flight conditions for tomorrow.
[2010-06-24 20:30MEST]
Flying nearly 24 hours the IFR-Astos-Team was able to take pictures of the whole suggested landing site of SHARK!
Due to perfect weather they began yesterday evening at 7.00 pm, making just short breaks in between. At the northern part of Sweden the sun doesnīt go down completely during summer. Therefore it was possible to fly during night as well. Due to the large amount of pictures taken, the evaluation will last some time and will mainly be done after arriving in Germany next Sunday.
[2010-06-25 17:00MEST]
This morning some additional flights over the main area has been realized.
This were the last flights before returning to Germany. The work in ESRANGE test area has finished now.