Near-earth space optical observation payload cabin design

Abstract

Atmospheric clouds and fogs can weaken the intensity of the visible light by absorption, refraction, scattering and reflection, which greatly affect the detection effect of ground-based optical observation instruments. To solve this problem, near-earth space-based optical observation platform is a good choice which is more flexible and cheaper than satellite-based optical observation platform in space. This paper describes the whole design of the near-earth space optical observation payload cabin including electronics design and mechanical design. The payload capacity is 100Kg and supports 4x RS422, 4x CameraLink, 4x analog video and 4x LAN, it can provide energy supply, mode control, temperature control, data storage and data transmission services for the experiment loads. The payload cabin developed in this paper has participated in the actual experiment and reached to an altitude of 20 Km, and then safely landed after staying for 2 h in the stratosphere. The scientific load obtained real and reliable experimental data and the optical loads also obtained precious data and images during the experiment. The payload cabin developed in this experiment will take ultraviolet spectrograph, low-light level night vision device, planetary telescope and multi-band airglow imager to an altitude above 20Km for experiment in the near future.