Launch Soon?

This Saturday is a possible launch day.  It should be beautiful, but hope for low wind.  I've loaded CHDK onto our sacrificial Powershot SD400.  My next worry is battery life on this used camera, but I'm thinking about replacing the 4.3V rechargeable with 3 AA disposables.

Tomorrow I'll be testing the camera to see how the intervalometer works, and how long the battery will last.  I'll also play with some ISO and shutter settings to figure out the best way to get awesome shots.  If everything looks good, I'll buy the phone tomorrow.

Tyler has taken care of the parachute, and I'll grab a cooler, string and duct tape.  We'll be putting together the launch vehicle at the Physics building on Saturday morning.

The camera should hold 6000 shots on the highest pixel setting and lowest jpg setting, so we may be able to do a shot every 5 seconds.  Here's the script that I'll use in CHDK as an intervalometer:

rem Author - Keoeeit
rem Upgraded by Mika Tanninen
rem Time accuracy and shutdown for a710is by Viktoras Stanaitis
rem h-accuracy for delay, j-accuracy for interval
h=-1
j=-1755
@title Ultra Intervalometer
@param a Delay 1st Shot (Mins)
@default a 0
@param b Delay 1st Shot (Secs)
@default b 0
@param c Number of Shots (0 inf)
@default c 0
@param d Interval (Minutes)
@default d 0
@param e Interval (Seconds)
@default e 10
@param f Interval (10th Seconds)
@default f 0
n=0
t=(d*600+e*10+f)*100+j
if c<1 then let c=0
if t<100 then let t=100
g=(a*60)+b+h
if g<=0 then goto "interval"
for m=1 to g
 print "Intvl Begins:", (g-m)/60; "min", (g-m)%60; "sec"
 sleep 930
 next m
:interval
  n=n+1
  if c=0 then print "Shot", n else print "Shot", n, "of", c
  shoot
  if n=c then shut_down
  sleep t
  goto "interval"