[aprssig] APRS telemetry to the planets

[Robert Bruninga]

> 1.  What grade level is your interplanetary experiment taught?

Sophmores.  It is just one exercise in 6 that they do in the
Elecrical Power Lab for their satellite class for Aerospace
majors.  They do all 6 in 2 hours.

> Do many of your students hold ham tickets, or go on to obtain 
> them while at USNA (if they might have time)? I knew of no 
> active duty USN officers having a ticket when I was an active 
> officer - only enlisted folks that forced me to go for my
ticket.   

None.  The few midshipmen that get their license I have never
had in a class myself, though they do come hang around here in
the lab.

> 2.  Would it have been cause for possible confusion between a 
> meter/foot correlation versus translating every measurement 
> into metric equivalents throughout?  

The tiles on the floor are 1'.  Makes navigation easy.

But thanks for your interest!
Bob  
WB4APR

>  
> 
> 	----- Original Message ----- 
> 	From: Robert Bruninga <mailto:bruninga at usna.edu>  
> 	To: aprssig at lists.tapr.org 
> 	Sent: Wednesday, March 07, 2007 3:31 PM
> 	Subject: [aprssig] APRS telemetry to the planets
> 
> 	APRS Telemetry to the planets
> 	
> 	To demonstrate solar power and the distances to the
planets, our
> 	students used a mock planetary explorer consisting of a
solar
> 	panel on a satellite model on a cart:
> 	
> 	http://www.ew.usna.edu/~bruninga/EPSplanets.html
> 	
> 	They backed the cart away over 590 feet from a 1000W
spot lamp
> 	to get from Mercury to Jupiter.  A KPC-3+ TNC provided
APRS
> 	telemetry to a laptop which plotted the IV curve of the
solar
> 	panel along the way (which was down 1000 to 1 by the
time they
> 	got to Saturn (the size of a BB)...  Pluto was in the
next
> 	building.
> 	
> 	Anyway, students had fun.  And we got some nice photos.
I
> 	compressed them in PAINT and
> 	they are under 40k and load pretty fast.
> 	
> 	Just an example of how we use Ham radio in the
classroom.
> 	
> 	Bob, WB4APR
> 	
> 	
> 	
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>