The NASA super pressure balloon – A path to flight

Cathey, H. M.

doi:10.1016/j.asr.2009.02.013

Cited by 42 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…For each of these designs, we calculate the number of unstable modes for the topfree, TOPCON, and top-fixed BCs. These results are summarized in The k-lobe modes are presented in order of eigenvalue, most unstable first, deployed at around 10 Pa (nadir pressure) [10].…”

Section: Summary and Discussion Of Deployment Pathway Portrait Rementioning

confidence: 99%

Estimating the Deployment Pressure in Pumpkin Balloons

Baginski

Brakke

2011

Journal of Aircraft

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A vexing conundrum that has hindered the development of a high-altitude heavy-lift pumpkin balloon system is the system's ability to reliably deploy into the desired symmetric shape. With design strategies honed by empirical results from inflation tests in 2007 using 27-m-diam 200-gore pumpkin balloons, NASA's Balloon Program Office executed successful pumpkin deployments in 2008: Flight 586-NT, a 2 million cubic foot 200-gore design, and Flight 591-NT, a 6 million ft 3 200-gore design. Earlier stability analysis of strained symmetric float shapes yielded partial information regarding deployment. Balloons that were found to have a large number of unstable modes at float conditions were found also to have deployment problems. The question remained, what was the minimum pressure at which a pumpkin balloon would deploy into a cyclically symmetric shape (not necessarily the fully developed one)? Careful examination of a family of axisymmetric ascent shapes revealed a correlation between differential pressure and the number of unstable modes. In this paper, criteria that can be used to estimate the deployment pressure is presented. To bound the problem, fixed-, constrained-, and free-boundary conditions are considered for the top endplate fitting. It was found that the stability results using the fixed and constrained conditions are nearly identical, and so the strategy for estimating the deployment pressure, called the deployment pathway portrait, is as follows. The deployment pressure P Dep is defined as the smallest nadir pressure where the topfree boundary condition yields two unstable modes and the top-fixed boundary condition yields no unstable modes. The approach is validated by comparing analytical predictions of deployment pressures based on the deployment pathway portrait with the deployment pressures that were recorded during the inflation tests in 2007: Flight 586-NT and Flight 591-NT. Very good agreement between the observed deployment pressures and the analytical predictions was found. This is the first analytical-based approach for estimating the deployment pressure.

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Section: Summary and Discussion Of Deployment Pathway Portrait Rementioning

confidence: 99%

Estimating the Deployment Pressure in Pumpkin Balloons

Baginski

Brakke

2011

Journal of Aircraft

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“…The ASC 5 ENA system consists of a superpressure ‘pumpkin’ [55] balloon suspending a drive unit, designated the ‘StratoCruiser’ propulsion module, that itself suspends a separate winch-driven sensor payload (figure 3). This StratoCruiser system significantly augments the capabilities of the SCoPEx stage one experimental system, including but not limited to:

— the capability to drive at up to 8 m s −1 relative to background winds;

— articulated solar panels to fully provide the power necessary to drive the system and perform the science functions;

— the capability to perform vertical soundings of up to 10 km using the ‘reeldown’ winching system, controlling the vertical position of the suspended payload at controlled rates of up to 10 m s −1 ;

— an augmented sensor array, including atmospheric tracer species CO 2 , CO, N 2 O and CH 4 , enhanced wind measurements, two digital cameras and measurement of condensed phase water and the HDO isotopologue; and

— the combination of the superior drive capability and solar panels allows an augmentation of the experimental lifetime up to six weeks.

Figure 3.The StratoCruiser propulsion module ( a ) contains the docking enclosure for the suspended payload, the articulated solar panels for power, Li–Po batteries for energy storage, dual high-efficiency propellers for concerted directional control, the winching system for suspended payload reeldown as well as all electronics support and command/control requirements.…”

Section: System Architecturementioning

confidence: 99%

Stratospheric controlled perturbation experiment: a small-scale experiment to improve understanding of the risks of solar geoengineering

Dykema

Keith

Anderson

et al. 2014

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A.

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Although solar radiation management (SRM) through stratospheric aerosol methods has the potential to mitigate impacts of climate change, our current knowledge of stratospheric processes suggests that these methods may entail significant risks. In addition to the risks associated with current knowledge, the possibility of ‘unknown unknowns’ exists that could significantly alter the risk assessment relative to our current understanding. While laboratory experimentation can improve the current state of knowledge and atmospheric models can assess large-scale climate response, they cannot capture possible unknown chemistry or represent the full range of interactive atmospheric chemical physics. Small-scale, in situ experimentation under well-regulated circumstances can begin to remove some of these uncertainties. This experiment—provisionally titled the stratospheric controlled perturbation experiment—is under development and will only proceed with transparent and predominantly governmental funding and independent risk assessment. We describe the scientific and technical foundation for performing, under external oversight, small-scale experiments to quantify the risks posed by SRM to activation of halogen species and subsequent erosion of stratospheric ozone. The paper's scope includes selection of the measurement platform, relevant aspects of stratospheric meteorology, operational considerations and instrument design and engineering.

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“…After investigating to what degree we could tolerate such changes, we concluded that the preferable vehicle for EVA is a Super-Pressure Balloon (SPB) such as those that are now being developed for the NASA SPB Program [13], [14].…”

Section: Zpb Versus Spbmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In earlier designs, lobes would often remain folded over one another even in a fully pressurized balloon, leading to distortion and unplanned stress in the balloon surface. However, in the most recent designs, this problem appears to have been solved through a series of ground inflation tests involving 27 meter diameter 200-gore superpressure balloons [13] and a new analytic method [15], Figure 5. Super-pressure balloon Flight 591NT [16] and [17] whose predictions are validated by test and flight data.…”

Section: Zpb Versus Spbmentioning

confidence: 99%

Technology development for the ExaVolt Antenna (EVA) suborbital ultra-high energy particle observatory

Baginski

Gorham

2013

2013 IEEE Aerospace Conference

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We describe technology development for the ExaVolt Antenna (EVA) mission, a planned ultra-high energy (UHE) particle observatory under development for NASA's suborbital super-pressure balloon program in Antarctica. The design is based on a novel application of toroidal reflector optics which utilizes a super-pressure balloon surface, along with a feed-array mounted on an inner membrane, to create an ultra-large radio antenna system with a synoptic view of the Antarctic ice sheet below it.

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The NASA super pressure balloon – A path to flight

Cited by 42 publications

References 10 publications

Estimating the Deployment Pressure in Pumpkin Balloons

Estimating the Deployment Pressure in Pumpkin Balloons

Stratospheric controlled perturbation experiment: a small-scale experiment to improve understanding of the risks of solar geoengineering

Technology development for the ExaVolt Antenna (EVA) suborbital ultra-high energy particle observatory

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