Streamlining High-Altitude Ballooning Missions: From Payload, to Launch, to Flight

Hall, Hunter; Kohanim, Ariel; Donitz, Benjamin; Prober, Ethan; Kwiecinski, Kathryn; Fetzer, Makena; Daruwala, Rohan; Mathur, Samar; Fortmuller, Trey; Bensky, William; Tovar, Bryan Lara; Stoica, Adrian

doi:10.1109/aero.2019.8741908

Cited by 4 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…Building on a background of successful HAB launches during 2017 [1] and 2018 [2], the i2F team leveraged its HAB experience to facilitate a SoOp experiment. i2F is pursuing a collaborative relationship with several different interests across the JPL campus and this mission built on both i2F's experience with balloon launches and on SoOp's previous science validations.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tethered Balloon-Based Experiment of Surface Water Height Using Satellite Signals of Opportunity

Lally

Chamieh

Daruwala

et al. 2020

2020 IEEE Aerospace Conference

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Signals of Opportunity (SoOp) is an area of radio science that leverages existing ambient signals from spacecraft, aircraft, and ground-based radio systems to perform radio science without spending time or resources constructing new transmission infrastructure. It has been conceptualized that SmallSats or CubeSats can perform similar SoOp missions by augmenting pre-existing spacecraft missions-specifically radio/radar missions. During the summer of 2019, studentinterns at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) under the Innovation to Flight (i2F) program tested the first airborne SoOp demo via a tethered aerostat-a valuable step towards getting a SoOp demo in orbit. The airborne SoOp demo received direct and bounced signals from multiple geosynchronous equatorial orbit (GEO) satellites by using two on-board wide-band grid antennas. One antenna was pointed at the sky at appropriate azimuth and elevation angles to receive a direct GEO signal. The other antenna was pointed at an identical azimuth angle with a mirrored elevation angle so as to receive the same GEO signal reflected from a body of water below. Both antennas were secured on adjustable mounts to allow for pointing changes and permit data collection from multiple satellites. This initial test proves the scientific and technological feasibility of doing further airborne SoOp tests, potentially on aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), high altitude balloons (HAB), and SmallSats or CubeSats.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%