The Possibility of Ultraviolet Enceladus’ Observations from Stratospheric Balloons

Abstract

Stratospheric balloons are very important sources for space and terrestrial observation experiments in many disciplines. Instruments developed for astrophysical measurements are usually reusable. It is also possible to observe both hemispheres including observations from the polar and equatorial regions for thirty days or even longer. On the other hand the UV atmospheric transmittance window was used for the astrophysical observations less often than visible optical bands. At the end of the 2017 there are a few scientific groups working on near-UV or UV spectrographs and cameras for balloon flights. In this paper we are discussing the possibility of ultraviolet measurement of Enceladus, an icy Saturnian moon, surface reflectance between 200 and 400 nm from the 20-50 km altitudes. At visible and near infrared optical channels Enceladus’ reflectance is very high (near 1.0). This value is consistent with a surface composed of water ice, however at some ultraviolet wavelengths Enceladus reflectance is lower than it would be expected for this type of surface. The scientific research done in the last decade was focused on H2O, NH3, and tholin particles detection on the Enceladus’ surface as a reason of low UV reflectance phenomenon. Continuous observation of Enceladus’ UV reflectance variability from stratospheric balloons may be interesting and may give us the proof of the presence of biomarkers or/and tholin particles.

High Altitude Ballooning as an Atmospheric Sounding System in the Pre-Flight Procedures of ILR-33 Amber

“…The data frame is received at a ground station at a predefined frequency. Basically, data frames are transmitted every [15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30] The data frames are decoded by the software. On the basis of the current time, appropriate conversion of the position of the radiosonde from geographical coordinates, angular and linear displacements can be calculated, the azimuth and wind direction as well as wind speed and forces.…”

“…Weather balloons have been considered as multipurpose High Altitude Platforms (HAPs) as well as a potential High Altitude Pseudo-Satellites (HAPS). Their use has been noticed in atmosphere sounding, Earth observation [14], telecommunication [15,16], winch for stratospheric UAVs [17], as well as in innovative concepts such as space exploration [18,19]. A regular high-altitude ballooning system for sounding purposes contains a weather balloon, a rope (holding system) and a single radiosonde.…”

Preparation and Implementation of a Test Flight of Lightweight, Unmanned Stratospheric Balloon with Gopro Camera Mounted and Analysis of Acquired Material

“…The stratospheric balloons are very important sources of data in space research and observation of the Earth's surface in many scientific disciplines [1], and due to the nature of the application they can provide information, among others, on the state of the atmosphere from zones where a flight with observation plane is not possible. The first applications of balloons date back to the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, and in Poland the pioneer in the implementation of such a mission was WBS in Legionowo.…”