Abstract
On 15 September 1996, a high altitude research balloon was launched SW of the Starfire Optical Range (SOR) on Kirtland AFB, NM. The primary purpose of the balloon launch was to test a low power satellite communications package developed under the direction of Dr. Charles Swenson of Utah State University. An equally important objective of this experiment was to collect laser scintillation data from the balloon at the 1 .5-meter telescope located at the SOR. Scintillation data was also obtained from a star near the location (azimuth and elevation) of the balloon for comparison. The balloon payload was illuminated from the ground with a small aperture 810 nm laser diode transmitter and retro-reflected into the 1.5-meter telescope from a 1 inch optical corner cube. The returned light was detected by a photomultiplier tube. This paper examines the statistics of intensity fluctuations from these two sources and compares experimental results with theory.
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