Validation Flight Experiment for a Sounding Balloon Photovoltaic-based Attitude Determination System

Abstract

Sounding balloons have proven to be a very effective low-cost method to bring scientific and commercial payloads to the near-space environment. In the frame of our ongoing effort towards the development of a small stratospheric platform with autonomous flying capabilities, we have undertaken the design and manufacture of a flight experiment to verify the possibility to perform onboard attitude determination using the solar cell power output measurements to complement the inertial sensor. The system is based on six low-cost terrestrial solar cells placed on the sides of a boxshaped gondola, lifted to about 34 km altitude by a weather balloon. We describe the system architecture, the results of the first experimental flight and the post-landing attitude reconstruction.

Use of spacecraft solar panels and Sun sensors for estimation of the Sun-pointing direction in the UPMSat-2 mission

“…For example, [21] proposes a method to use solar panel data for airplane navigation. In [22], solar panels are used to estimate the attitude of a balloon. Additionally, an experimental concept for attitude determination based on solar panels and an inclinometer is validated in [23].…”