Inside the Ascender 36 airship. You can see the nose and keel carbon truss.#jpaerospace
Installing Helium cells in the Ascender 36 airship.#jpaerospace
This is the inflation system for the wind ramps. The wind ramps keep the airship safe while we test. #jpaerospace
The 94 foot long Ascender 9 is 75% complete.#jpaerospace
Hatch down for a live life support system test in the submarine.#jpaerospace
Hanging out with Bell for the three hour life support test. The system is good for 24 hours but were working up bit by bit.#jpaerospace
Anyone know if they recovered Ascender 36 after last year's flight? Or are these things disposable?
Ascender 36 Preped for FlightMay 5th, 2017The team did a full vehicle assemble and test on Ascender 36 on Sunday. We’re getting her ready for the second flight.The vehicle numbering system has changed. The transition is a little confusing. Before all the airship got a number based on length, Ascender 36 is 36 feet long for example. This became a problem when switching to metric. Is Ascender 100 called Ascender 28 in the UK? To simplify it all we gone to sequential system. The new 94 foot airship is Ascender 9 because it’s the ninth one we’ve built. We are not going back to change the names of the older airship. Upon that path lays chaos. So Ascender 36 remains Ascender 36.
John M Powell @JohnMPowell1 42m42 minutes agoThe new motors and propellers for the Ascender 9 airship ready to install.
TransAtmospheric AscenderThe TransAtmospheric Ascender will be our first airship to reach space. The vehicle is 2100 feet long and will have a crew of three. It will have a peak altitude of 350,000 feet and a maximum velocity of Mach 5. Technically it is a hypersonic waverider. The TransAtmospheric Ascender is strictly a suborbital vehicle. It will fly from a Block 2 Dark Sky Station floating at 120,000 feet to space then return to the station. The airship will be driven by a single four chamber version of our symphony hybrid chemical/electric rocket engine.The TransAtmospheric Ascender is still a few years away but as we get closer the design starts to firm up. Just thought you would like a look at where it stands.
Concept drawing of the Mesospheric Explorer 6.#jpaerospace
Mesospheric Explorer 1#jpaerospace
Mesopheric Explorer 2 being launched.#jpaerospace
Mesospheric Explorer 3 flies next year.#jpaerospace
We just leased an addition building just big enough for the Ascender 9.#jpaerospace
The team in the V of Ascender 9.#jpaerospace
Ascender 9 from above.#jpaerospace
Testing air beam ribs for the airship.#jpaerospace
The team completed the truss structure for the Ascender 9 airship. Another step.#jpaerospace
Closeup of the Ascender 9 airship keel truss.#jpaerospace
John M Powell @JohnMPowell1 21m21 minutes agoThis shows the truss below the Ascender 9 airship.#jpaerospace
Yesterday the team got the Ascender 9 envelope mated to the truss structure.#jpaerospace#HighAltitudeAirship
[Inflating the Ascender 9 airship.#jpaerospace/quote]https://twitter.com/johnmpowell1/status/893558402055413761