Dynamic Characterization of a High-Altitude Balloon during a Flight Campaign for the Detection of ISM Radio Background in the Stratosphere

Gemignani, Matteo; Marcuccio, Salvo

doi:10.3390/aerospace8010021

Cited by 14 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…As reported in [10], data in Figure 6 show that the different light sources used in the three tests, as well as the windows size, do not influence the shape of the experimental curves (i.e., the response of the SQM under analyses); this confirms that the size of the windows chosen for the test is adequate to consider them as punctual light sources. Focusing on the shapes of the calculated curves, two different peaks can be observed and will be discussed in the next subsection.…”

Section: Test With Different Illumination Conditionssupporting

confidence: 70%

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Verification of Angular Response of Sky Quality Meter with Quasi-Punctual Light Sources

Bartolomei

Olivieri

Bettanini

et al. 2021

Sensors

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Sky Quality Meter (SQM) is a commercial instrument based on photometers widely used by amateur astronomers for skyglow measurement from the ground. In the framework of the MINLU project, two SQM-LE units were integrated in an autonomous sensor suite realized and tested at University of Padova for monitoring light pollution from drones or sounding balloons. During the ground tests campaign before airborne measurement, the performance of both SQM units was verified in laboratory using controlled light sources as a reference input; the results showed that both units presented an angular response deviating consistently from the expected performance and that the sensors’ field of view was larger than the one declared in the manufacturer’s datasheet. This aspect in particular would affect direct skyglow measurements during flight as light sources close to the boundaries of the field of view would not be attenuated but instead detected by the sensors. As a direct consequence, the measurement of low-intensity skyglows at stratospheric altitudes could be affected by high-intensity punctual sources acting as lateral disturbances. A dedicated test campaign was therefore conceived and realized to investigate SQM unit response to light sources in the field of view and identify the true angular response curve; the setup consisted in a controlled rotatory stage moving the unit in front of a fixed diffusive light source. Different test conditions were used to validate the experimental procedure, demonstrating the repeatability of the measurements. This paper presents the experimental campaign and the resulting SQM angular response curve; results indicate for both SQMs a larger than expected field of view and the presence of a double peak in the angular response, which is likely related to a non-perfect alignment of SQMs collimation optics. Furthermore, the wider resulting curves suggest that the contribution of lateral sources is more prominent with respect to the response predicted by the manufacturer. For this reason, the utilization of baffles to restrict SQMs field of view is analyzed to minimize the disturbance of lateral light sources and two different geometries are presented.

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Section: Test With Different Illumination Conditionssupporting

confidence: 70%

“…The flight platform was composed by a commercial latex 1200 g balloon filled with industrial-grade helium and a dedicated flight train including a 1.5 m diameter parachute implementing an architecture similar to the one used for other successful High-Altitude Balloon flights by University of Pisa [10].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Verification of Angular Response of Sky Quality Meter with Quasi-Punctual Light Sources

Bartolomei

Olivieri

Bettanini

et al. 2021

Sensors

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…Furthermore, its dynamic behavior can be observed closely from the ground. The drawbacks of using a crane is that the vertical motion is restricted, although an oscillation along the vertical axis is an issue in a high-altitude balloon [18]. A genuine balloon experiment is necessary in the future study; however, the goals of this study can be achieved even in the crane experiment.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Air-Launch Experiment Using Suspended Rail Launcher for Rockoon

Shoyama

Banno

Furuta³

et al. 2021

Aerospace

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The method of air-launching a rocket using a launcher suspended from a balloon, referred to as a rockoon, can improve the flight performance of small rockets. However, there have been safety issues and flight trajectory errors due to uncertainty with respect to the launch direction. Air-launch experiments were performed to demonstrate a rail launcher equipped with a control moment gyroscope to actively control the azimuth angle. As a preliminary study, it was suspended via a crane instead of a balloon. The rockets successfully flew along the target azimuth line and impacted the predicted safe area. The elevation angle of the launcher rail exhibited a fluctuation composed of two frequency components. A double-pendulum model with a rigid rod suspended by a wire was proposed to predict this behavior. Significant design parameters and error sources were investigated using this model, revealing the constraining effect of a large mass above the wire and elevation angle fluctuation, which caused trajectory errors due to the friction force on the rail guide and thrust misalignment. Finally, tradeoffs in designing the rail length were found between the launcher clear velocity and elevation fluctuations.

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“…where P atm is the pressure of ambient air at the flight altitude [23], and P he is the pressure of the buoyancy gas and can be obtained by:…”

Section: Spatial Geometry Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multidisciplinary Optimization of Thermal Insulation Layer for Stratospheric Airship with a Solar Array

Yang

et al. 2022

Aerospace

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Stratospheric airships with a solar array have demonstrated overwhelming superiority in many aspects, such as earth observation, meteorological survey, and communication relay. The solar array supplies sufficient power for the airship to be in flight for months, but excessive heat is also transferred to the airship, causing high overpressure of inner gas. However, the optimal arrangement of the insulation layer on the airship has not been investigated. The theoretical method, including the geometry, thermal, and energy models, is developed and validated. The distribution of the temperatures and power of the solar cells, with different installation angles on the curved surface, is investigated. The thickness of insulation layer has a significant effect on the solar output power and internal pressure of the airship. An optimized configuration of the insulation structure is proposed, in order to improve the total output energy of solar array. The optimized configuration of insulations helps to reduce the structural mass by 24.9% and increase the payload mass by 9%. Moreover, the optimized arrangement improves the output energy of solar array in a year, and the maximum improvement is 8.2% on the winter solstice. The work displays the optimization of the thermal insulation layer for the stratospheric airship with a solar array, in order to improve the everyday energy acquirement during flight in a year.

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Dynamic Characterization of a High-Altitude Balloon during a Flight Campaign for the Detection of ISM Radio Background in the Stratosphere

Cited by 14 publications

References 13 publications

Verification of Angular Response of Sky Quality Meter with Quasi-Punctual Light Sources

Verification of Angular Response of Sky Quality Meter with Quasi-Punctual Light Sources

Air-Launch Experiment Using Suspended Rail Launcher for Rockoon

Multidisciplinary Optimization of Thermal Insulation Layer for Stratospheric Airship with a Solar Array

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