Clotho Project

From Rocketpedia

For millennia we have explored the biodiversity of life on earth, from the bottom of the oceans to the tropical rainforests. But what happens when we leave the surface of the earth? Darwin noted algae in dust, Pasteur started the quest, and The Clotho Project will turn it into a research program sampling higher than ever before and using cutting edge aerospace technology and biological techniques to answer one of the fundamental questions in biology today:

How far off the earth's surface does life exist, and what is the nature of the organisms that live there?

The Clotho Project is a collaboration between the Mavericks Foundation, civilian space explorers, and several of the worlds leading scientific, academic and research institutions.

About

Main article: Clotho Science Program

The main mission is to carry out the first general survey of life in the upper atmosphere, including the upper portions of the stratosphere and mesosphere, as well as exploring areas of particular interest such as the biology of clouds and the airborne extent of algal blooms. These areas of the upper atmosphere are not accessible by aircraft nor weather balloons. In support of this science mission the program will also develop a platform capable of repeatedly carrying biological sampling device(s) up on sounding rockets, rocket powered drones, and/or balloon to retrieve organisms and other biological traces from the upper atmosphere. In addition, the program will develop a high altitude high velocity biological air sampling system.

Air sampling is a complex task, and sampling for airborne biological particles (bioaerosols) brings additional challenges. Combining this with the difficulty of accessing the atmosphere above the altitude of mountaintops or airplane flights means that very little is known about the upper reaches of the biosphere.

A fuller description of the long-term science program and its goals is available at Clotho Science Program. There is also a page for relevant papers at Clotho Science Program References.

Phase I - Payload Lift System Development

The first phase of the Clotho Project is to design, develop, test and flight certify the instrumentation payload lift rocket system named Beagle IV. Mavericks Civilian Space Foundation has partnered with Sony and Intel in this effort, and is producing and testing this airframe and propulsion system as part of the Mavericks In The Classroom STEM education program at the California Academy of Math & Science in Carson, California.

The Rocket Project Powered By Sony & Intel

This first phase development program has been named by Sony & Intel as "The Rocket Project Powered By Sony & Intel." This STEM Education program being delivered byte Mavericks Civlian Space Foundation integrates the students from the California Academy of Math & Science as members of the Clotho Project research team, contributing alongside the payload development team in the design, development and testing of the Beagle IV rocket system.

More details about this effort can be found on the Sony website by clicking the banner below, or by searching Rocketpedia's education communities for Mavericks In The Classroom.

Timeline and Meetings Notes

Main articles: Clotho Timeline, Clotho Meetings and Notes

The notes page contains the agendas from our meetings as well as notes taken there. The notes include some outstanding questions and requests.

Requirements

Main article: Instrumentation Requirements

The science instrumentation for the Clotho project is intended to take a biological and environmental profile of the atmosphere from ~70 km to ground level. It consists of an air sampler, an environmental monitoring (sensor) package, and a deployment and recovery (e.g. parachute) system. It is intended to be deployable, with minor adjustments, on a wide range of platforms at different altitudes, including low-flying zeppelins, mid-range weather balloons, and high-altitude rockets.

See Payload Design for engineering information and current status.

Airframe Requirements

Main article: Airframe Requirements

Schematic for the airframe.

Two stage sounding rocket

Booster:

• three 6" dia. motor configuration
• interchangeable motor case.
• Fin can compatable with any 6" case
• Interstage compatable with any 6" dia booster motors
• Interstage compatable with any 6" sustainer motor.

Sustainer:

• single 6" dia. motor interchangeable length
• Fin can used as part of staging interface- interchangeable with any 6" dia motor

See Airframe Subsystem for engineering information and current status.

Avionics & Telemetry Requirements

Onboard electronics shall provide for redundant multi-event payload and flight control including support for realtime GPS telemetry. Multiple ground stations and radios shall be employed to observe flight trajectory and allow successful vehicle recovery from the landing site.

Sustainer Requirements

• G-Wiz LCX
• G-Wiz HCX
• 12 Channels of 12-bit ADC conversion
• Internal temperature monitoring
• 5Hz GPS Telemetry tracking with 70 mile range (13 dB of fade margin)
• Remote control power
• Remote system control
• AV-Bay dimensions: 9.875" L x 3.750" W (about 3" high)

Booster Requirements

• The interstage coupler shall house an LCX/HCX combo for booster recovery system deployment.
• Telemetry may be supported in the booster (time permitting)

Tracking Requirements

• The AV-Bay shall output 5Hz Telemetry tracking with 70 mile range (13 dB of fade margin) to multiple ground stations.
• Remote monitoring shall be performed using the Tracking feature of ExpertGPS and the G-Wiz AV-bay ground station receiver.
• The Ground station antenna(s) are a left-hand circular polarized patch antenna with 8db of gain.
• Another Ground station antenna(s) used is an articulating monopole antenna with 2.1db of gain.
• The monopole antenna used onboard is a 2.5dB gain antenna for 900Mhz telemetry transmission (2 shall be used).
• The GPS antenna used onboard is a Sarantel active helical antenna for GPS telemetry reception (about 8" long) (2 shall be used).

Video Requirements

Main article: Video Subsystem

The Video Subsystem shall allow for Bluray quality HD video to be captured for post-recovery review of all flight and atmospheric conditions while simultaneously providing for SD realtime video streaming to ground stations.

Energetics & Ignition Requirements

The Clotho Ignition system will use a cascaded forward closure configuration. A ZPP initiator will be used to trigger a BP/BKNO3 primer. An Al/APCP secondary will be used in a piccolo configuration to complete the ignition sequence.

Propulsion Requirements

The Clotho Project propulsion system must support a reconfigurable propulsion system, using APCP solid propellants based upon a Loki Research 152mm Frankenstein motor. The Frankenstein motor system supports both a 60" P impulse casing and a 96" Q impulse casing. Propellant energetic characteristics must supply a minimum specific impulse of 220 Ns using a 80% solids propellant formulation. Kn values must be no lower than 200 for the nozzle configuration. The booster must support a configureation as 3 60" P Impulse motors in a cluster configuration, or 3 96" Q impulse motors also configured in a cluster configuration. The sustainer must support either a 60" P impulse casing or a 96" Q impulse casing. The combination of these modular systems must enable a propulsion lift capacity that can be customized to the payload deployment and weight requirements. Supported configurations must include 3P's to a P, 3Q's to a P, 3P's to a Q, and finally 3 Q's to a Q. Payload lift requirements by this configuration with the designed airframe must enable a payload delivery altitude between 120K MSL and 400K MSL.

Motor Test

Mavericks Clotho Motor Test Video

Launch System Requirements

Main article: Launcher Design

Launcher

Rail Guide Information

Main article: Rail Guides

The launch tower uses an aluminum "T" Rail. CLOTHO will use Delrin rail guides to guide the rocket along the rail. See the main article (Rail Guides) for drawings, details, and stress analysis report.

Launch Commit Criteria

Main article: Launch Commit Criteria

Launch commit criteria are the criteria which must be met in order for the countdown and launch of a space vehicle to continue. These criteria relate to safety issues and the general success of the launch, as opposed to supplemental data.

Launch/Countdown Procedure

Main article: Launch Procedure

A countdown is a carefully devised set of procedures ending with ignition of a rocket's engine. Depending on the type of vehicle used, countdowns can start from 72 to 96 hours prior to launch time.

During countdown:

• Aerospace personnel bring the rocket vehicle to the launch site and load it with payload and propellants.
• Launch-center computers communicate with sensors in the rocket, which monitor important systems on the launch vehicle and payload
• Launch personnel monitor the weather and wait for the launch window.

Mishap Procedures

Main article: Launch Mishap

A set of procedures to be followed in the event of a launch mishap.

Recovery Requirements

TBD

Clotho Project Team

Advisors

Propulsion

Dr. Jeff Taylor

Astrobiology Science Mission

Dr. Rocco Mancinelli

Partners

GWiz Flight Computers will develop next generation avionics and telemetry and tracking technology with Mavericks for the Clotho project.

Loki Research will develop next generation propulsion systems and propellant technology with Mavericks for the Clotho project..

Astos Solutions provides dispersion and trajectory analysis technology to Mavericks in support of the Clotho project..

Sponsors

Resources

Mavericks Teleconferencing & On-line Meeting Services

The Clotho [rpkect has a teleconferencing and video conferencing and collaboration service available for team members to host on-line meetings and de sign sessions. You can host a working session with the ability to share your PC screen, documents, and share control and editing and commenting on those documetns, designs or desktop, along with the video camera stream of objects of relevance to the discussion.

To use the system, log in here: Mavericks Conference Center

You will need to contact Jon Hylbert for log-in and password information.