Mission Planning

Introduction

• This week we did 2 similar labs one was to us the C-Astral C³P and run through the setup up to the launch but not launch it. The other was to us a C-Astral program and become familiar with it through a simulator which we had a few assigned missions to perform.

C-Astral C³P Checklist and setup

• before leaving the class as a group we went through the checklist, shown in Figure 1 to make sure that we had all the required equipment and tools before heading away for the mission. The next step before heading to the fields is to check current and future weather and the area in which your flying. After we did all the we took the C-Astral outside and following the checklist began to set it up.
• As seen in figure 2 the C-Astral is set up but the catapult is not all the way this was taken towards the end. Figure 3 shows the empty boxes that the C-Astral was transported outside within.

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

Part 2

• Part 2 was the simulation part of the lab. The first thing i did was mess with all the options to get used to how everything works. Figure 4 shows the starting screen and all the point set. we have 4 points on the screen they are
• H –  Home 
• T – Takeoff 
• R – Rally 
• L – Land 
• Figure 5 shows the takeoff point data as i adjusted it for what i wanted for the flight and figure 6 shows the data bar which was taken after my first flight simulation after the chute was deployed and it was coming down

Figure 4

Figure 5

Figure 6

 The first of the required labs was to run a mission in terrain. I scanned the USA and Found a park that looked good as seen in figure 7. I zoomed in and found a forested area on the side of a mountain and set it up like i was running to data there under diffident elevations Figure 8 shows my predicted flight plan in google earth and gives depth of scale to make sure i don't run into anything. figure 9 is the start of the flight which the C-Astral flew perfectly

Figure 7

Figure 8

Figure 9

The second on is at the local outdoor amphitheater. It was difficult to find the room to takeoff and a spot to safely land. You also had to take in to account all the trees in the area. The flight again went smooth. Figure 10 show the predicted route of flight as i drew in the area i wanted photoed.

Figure 10

The last is a place to choose of our own and i choose the families corn maze. In Figure 11 you can see the C-Astral had taken off and was getting ready to climb for the mission. in figure 12 you can see the C-Astral had ran its mission, photos are shown where they were taken and now was returning to land. I found this fun trying to come up with a realistic mission for the C-Astral to run.

Figure 11

Figure 12

Conclusion

• In this lab we learned why per fighting is important. I learned how to go through the checklist and to work with other to run the setups of the C-Astral C³P.  Later i learned how to program and ran simulations on the computer to understand how to fly the C-Astral.