Double Balloon Configuration for a Controlled Ascent and Descent for Atmospheric Research.
Is this project an undergraduate, graduate, or faculty project?
Graduate
Project Type
group
Authors' Class Standing
Graduate Student
Lead Presenter's Name
Noemi Miguelez Gomez
Faculty Mentor Name
Dr. Aroh Barjatya
Abstract
A recently funded AFOSR Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI), "Integrated Measurement and Modeling Characterization of Stratospheric Turbulence", has embarked on a 5-yr effort to resolve significant operational issues concerning hypersonic vehicle aerothermodynamics, boundary layer stability, and aero-optical propagation. In-situ turbulence measurements along with modeling will quantify spatiotemporal statistics and the dependence of stratospheric turbulence on underlying meteorology to a degree not previously possible. Data from high altitude balloons sampling at 1-2 kHz is required to characterize turbulence to the inner-scale, or smaller, over altitudes from 20 km to 35+ km. This project presents the development of a standard balloon bus, based on reliable COTS components, that includes radios operating in Ham/ISM frequencies with high-gain ground station antennas to achieve high telemetry rates that potentially enable sub-cm scale sampling. It includes strategies developed to increase the reliability of conventional latex balloons to achieve altitudes above 35 km (115 kft) as well as offer controlled descent enabling unperturbed environmental parameter measurements such as turbulence. It addresses the challenge to “mass produce” balloon payloads for simultaneous multi-point balloon launches and to support multiple closely-timed launches, along with downlinking all data to accommodate situations when payload retrieval is not possible
Did this research project receive funding support (Spark, SURF, Research Abroad, Student Internal Grants, Collaborative, Climbing, or Ignite Grants) from the Office of Undergraduate Research?
No
Double Balloon Configuration for a Controlled Ascent and Descent for Atmospheric Research.
A recently funded AFOSR Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI), "Integrated Measurement and Modeling Characterization of Stratospheric Turbulence", has embarked on a 5-yr effort to resolve significant operational issues concerning hypersonic vehicle aerothermodynamics, boundary layer stability, and aero-optical propagation. In-situ turbulence measurements along with modeling will quantify spatiotemporal statistics and the dependence of stratospheric turbulence on underlying meteorology to a degree not previously possible. Data from high altitude balloons sampling at 1-2 kHz is required to characterize turbulence to the inner-scale, or smaller, over altitudes from 20 km to 35+ km. This project presents the development of a standard balloon bus, based on reliable COTS components, that includes radios operating in Ham/ISM frequencies with high-gain ground station antennas to achieve high telemetry rates that potentially enable sub-cm scale sampling. It includes strategies developed to increase the reliability of conventional latex balloons to achieve altitudes above 35 km (115 kft) as well as offer controlled descent enabling unperturbed environmental parameter measurements such as turbulence. It addresses the challenge to “mass produce” balloon payloads for simultaneous multi-point balloon launches and to support multiple closely-timed launches, along with downlinking all data to accommodate situations when payload retrieval is not possible