NobileAmundsen

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Nobile/Amundsen Stratospheric Balloon Center -
Svalbard
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LONG DURATION BALLOON DEVELOPMENT (LDB)

• SVALBARD DEVELOPMENT WITH ANDOYA ROCKET RANGE
• MALINDI, KENYA
• M.Z. STATION BTN ANTARCTICA
• THE REST OF THE WORLD
• INTO THE FUTURE

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WHY SVALBARD, NORWAY?

• LongyearbyenThe community of Longyearbyen sits
  at 78º 14 North, well above the arctic circle.
  However, the climate of Longyearbyen is
  relatively mild compared to other location with a
  similar latitude.
• Low winds, constant direction
• High ratio of launch days per season

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WHY SVALBARD, NORWAY?

• Location/easy access allows personnel to come and
  go during campaign
• The northern most University is located in
  Longyearbyen
• Helicopter support year around based in
  Longyearbyen
• Medical Facility available, Search and Rescue

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WHY SVALBARD, NORWAY?

• Within the trajectory range, there is virtually
  no population base, so there is a greater safety
  margin in the event of a catastrophic failure.
• Year around access via commercial flights
• Vessel access April through October
• Infrastructure of the community offers complete
  support.
• Low air traffic in trajectory path

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WHY SVALBARD, NORWAY?
TRAJECTORY OVER VERY LITTLE LAND MASS SAFETY
RECOVERY IN GREENLAND OR SVALBARD
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WHY SVALBARD, NORWAY?

• TRAJECTORY JUST A PREDICTION ?

Musso/Cardillo
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From Trajectory Predictionsto Reality

• The earliest stratospheric predictions showed a
  full circumpolar trajectory was possible. After
  years of operations in Antarctica it would make
  sense that a northern hemisphere summer
  stratospheric circulation would be present to
  support an around the pole balloon flight.

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2004 trajectorylate summer
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2005 2 flights First Launch June 29 / Second
Launch July 5th
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June 12th Launch
2006 COMPLETE CIRCUMPOLAR TRAJECTORY
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RECOVERY OPTIONS

• Recovery from the Greenland Ice Sheet has been
  the objective since the inception of the program.
• LOW POPULATION
• INFRASTRUCTURE EXISTS TO SUPPORT OPERATIONS
• HIGHEST AND LOWEST UNINHABITED ZONE IN THE ARCTIC

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Recovery zone
RECOVERY ZONES AND RESEARCH STATIONS
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RUSSIAN RECOVERY

• In the event of an early termination of the
  payload over Russia, recovery operations could
  take place from various locations depending on
  the health and trajectory of the balloon.
• Overflight Permission
• Possible ground station deployment
• Collaboration on experiments and launches

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Trajectory zone North of these lines
RECOVERY
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May / June 2007 Trajectory Predictions
trajectory for ten balloons, each "launched" at
12Z for each of the forecast ten days
J. Hobbie ret.
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(No Transcript)
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LAUNCH WINDOW?

• Mid June through mid July The data shows this
  time period to be optimal for launching and
  recovery of the payloads.

 
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STUDENTS AND BALLOONS

• First student program took place in 2006 .
• In an effort to increase student involvement,
  ASI/ARR along with Aerostar have developed ultra
  light LDB systems.
• For 2008, there will be 2 or 3 launches of small
  (13kg) payload complete with commanding
  (IRIDIUM), ballast, ARGOS, and scienceworking
  with students.

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Keeping track of things
Valving
Climb-out
Termination
Ballasting
Float
Collar release
Parachute cut-a-way
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TELEMETRY

• IRIDIUM BASED IRIASI from ELTA
• REDUNDANT TERMINATE COMMANDS
• REDUNDANT TRACKING SYSTEM FOLLOWS INTERNATIONAL
  RULES OF THE AIR. ARGOS / GPS
• POWERED WITH SOLAR PANELS/ OR BATTS
• PORTABLE GROUND STATIONS

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IRIDIUM TM SYSTEM
ELTA
IRIASI
GPS
ARGOS-GPS VHAL-2
IRIDIUM
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VHAL 2GPS Localization Data CollectionThrough
ARGOS II or SCD
60 grams
ELTA
7 14 Volts _at_ 2 Watts
1.89 in x 2.75 in x 0.51 in 48 mm x 70 mm x 15 mm
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Malindi, Kenya

• Plans to begin launching the small TrailBlazer
  balloons from Malindi early September 2008
• Use of the IRIASI TM Platform
• Infrastructure on site supports small to medium
  size balloon launches
• Investigation of winds ongoing
• Similar campaign to the 2004 Svalbard effort

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M. Z. Station Baia Terra NovaAntarctica

• Concept well proven
• 2006 test with a PEGASO (INGV) platform from BTN
  successful
• Medium to large heavy lift campaign possible with
  advance planning.
• Possible use of the Williams Field launch site

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The Rest of the World

• Sowhat else is going on with ballooning?
• Canadians tried to launch Fournier again but the
  balloon left without the gondola. But, shows that
  the Canadian Launch Program is still active.
• CNES has an aggressive program especially
  expanding small to medium size balloon launches

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The World continued

• The ULDB program in the USA has continued to have
  problems only short duration (hours) test
  flights have lead to any success. However, NASA
  along with NSF have supported The Scientific
  Ballooning Planning Team in the investigation of
  opportunities for LDB and conventional programs.
  This was included in The Beyond Einstein
  Program.
• 15 million put into RD for balloon technology
  and have a 25 million annual budget for balloon
  campaigns.

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Development Area!!

• The findings of the most recent Low Cost Access
  to Near Space conference in Boulder Colorado last
  year were A gap exists between the 8000-lb
  payloads launched by NASA/CSBF and the 6-lb
  BalloonSats
• launched by Space Grant consortiums.
• Just what we have been doing in Svalbard!

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Where in the World?...

• CSBF/NASA launch sites
• Palestine , TX
• Lynn Lake, Manitoba Canada
• Ft. Sumner, NM
• Williams Field Antarctica
• Kiruna, Sweden
• Fairbanks, Alaska

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New CSBF Portable Launch SiteAntarctica
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2003 LAUNCH 6 TEST LAUNCHES 2004 LAUNCH
9258m³40 DAY FLIGHT PEGASO 2005 LAUNCH -
PEGASO 2 FLIGHTS 13 DAYS AND 25 DAYS 2006
LAUNCH - FIRST COMPLETE TRAJECTORY 17 DAYS -
PEGASO 2008 LAUNCHES TEST NEW TELEMETRY 2008
Malindi Kenya MABACA TEST
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INTO THE FUTURE

• OLIMPO/NOBILE - 09 Svalbard
• (submillimetric/millimetric technological)
• BOOMERanG FOREGOUNDS 10 Svalbard
• PEGASO 05 (Svalbard Antarctica), 06. 09?
• DUSTER TEST08
• Arctic SWIFT08
• STORM09-10 (Svalbard, Malindi, Antarctica)
• SORA 09
• PEBS10 11
• B-BPOL11

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At Float
END