Masten landed within eleven centimeters of the target on one of their flights. Was there any wind? Would a breeze have been a problem, or does the guidance system know how to compensate? If the air was still, competitors will have to hope for equally good weather on their attempts.
9 thoughts on “That’ll Be Hard To Beat”
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There was surprisingly little wind at the test site, in spite of it being pretty windy back at the airport itself. Weird. Yeah, for Unreasonable and Bon Nova, I hope they get a break on the wind as well. Unfortunately we’re starting to get into the windy season here in Mojave…
~Jon
Fresh winds before and after our flight window. Aeolus slept soundly during our flights, though.
In three weeks, we go again.
Both flights looked very impressive.
Good job guys!
That’s some pretty good shooting.
stuff needs to be filmed with HD, will increase enthusiasm for the norms like me.
Doug,
We do have some HD films up now at the mastenspace youtube channel. We’ll hopefully have some more once we get copies back from the various photographers.
~Jon
During the morning safety briefing it was reported that the wind limits were 40 knots. I monitored the Mojave Air & Space Port’s AWOS (automated weather observation system) before each flight. Winds were calming through the morning as forecasted. Before the first flight AWOS reported winds 19 knots gusting to 22. Before the second flight they reported 10 knots. In writing this down, I noticed that the numbers for knots of sustained wind and landing accuracy in cm were equal for both flights. Almost certainly a coincidence, but an interesting one.
Congratulations!
Congrats to all involved! What a great job.