We wanted to let everyone know that the CNSP-18 payload made it back home from Morocco on January 18, 2014.
This long story started on December 2, 2012, when the California Near Space Project launched CNSP-18 on a long duration floater mission that flew from California to Morocco, covering 6,080 great circle miles. For the full story, see this page
On December 23, 2012, Don Ferguson, AI6RE received the good news that the CNSP-18 payload was recovered. This story involved some educated guessing, hiking, and for the first time, bargaining with the local population. We greatly appreciate the time and energy that Patrick, CN2GW / F1GXW; Said, CN8WW; Amin, CN8YM; and Mohamed spent recovering the payload. For the full story, see this page
This story continued as the CNSP team was told that the payload was going through diplomatic channels in Morocco before its trip home. On November 29, 2013, we received an email from LHADJ Mustapha, CN8AAI, and his coworker BAKHA Abdelhaq, CN8AAL; they informed us that they were taking the payload to the U.S. Embassy in Rabat, Morocco. From there it was shipped to the U.S. Department of State in Dulles, Virginia. CNSP received this shipment from the U.S. Department of State on January 18, 2014. The CNSP-18 payload took 56 hours to get there and over a year to get back home. We appreciate everyone’s efforts.
The payload was delivered in a cardboard box that looked like it had been on a long journey itself. The box contained the CNSP-18 payload and a commemorative coin from the U.S. Embassy in Rabat, Morocco. See picture below.
Below is a group picture holding the payload back at the launch site.
