Stratospheric Balloon Flights Research Articles

Flying microbes-survival in the extreme conditions of the stratosphere during a stratospheric balloon flight experiment.

Earth's stratosphere is a hostile environment that has challenged microbial survival. We set out to test the effect of stratosphere exposure on survival of single species (Bacillus subtilis) and complex microbial communities from soils and sediment. B. subtilis survival was strongly impacted by sun exposure, i.e., ultraviolet (UV) radiation, with only 1% survival at full sun exposure. Complex microbial communities had high survival rates, and the soil or sediment matrix may have provided protection against radiation and desiccation, supporting the survival of environmental microorganisms.

The High Energy Light Isotope eXperiment program of direct cosmic-ray studies

HELIX is a new NASA-sponsored instrument aimed at measuring the spectra and composition of light cosmic-ray isotopes from hydrogen to neon nuclei, in particular the clock isotopes 10Be (radioactive, with 1.4 Myr lifetime) and 9Be (stable). The latter are unique markers of the production and Galactic propagation of secondary cosmic-ray nuclei, and are needed to resolve such important mysteries as the proportion of secondary positrons in the excess of antimatter observed by the AMS-02 experiment. By using a combination of a 1 T superconducting magnet spectrometer (with drift-chamber tracker) with a high-resolution time-of-flight detector system and ring-imaging Cherenkov detector, mass-resolved isotope measurements of light cosmic-ray nuclei will be possible up to 3 GeV/n in a first stratospheric balloon flight from Kiruna, Sweden to northern Canada, anticipated to take place in early summer 2024. An eventual longer Antarctic balloon flight of HELIX will yield measurements up to 10 GeV/n, sampling production from a larger volume of the Galaxy extending into the halo. We review the instrument design, testing, status and scientific prospects.

Proton, Electron and Photon Flux Measurement And Simulation During Stratospheric Balloon Flights

Proton, Electron and Photon Flux Measurement And Simulation During Stratospheric Balloon Flights

MEASUREMENT OF THE REGENER-PFOTZER MAXIMUM USING DIFFERENT TYPES OF IONISING RADIATION DETECTORS AND A NEW TELEMETRY SYSTEM TF-ATMON.

Stratospheric balloons are a useful tool for the investigation of cosmic radiation at high altitudes and the tests of new detectors of cosmic radiation. Due to necessary data processing, the balloon gondola needs to carry, together with radiation detectors, additional supplementary sensors measuring humidity, temperature, location and orientation, altitude, atmospheric pressure, acceleration, etc. A newly developed universal system TF-ATMON, based on using already existing tools of the PX4 open-source project, enables apart from data recording and monitoring, also the possibility to trace the balloon gondola after the flight. The application was demonstrated on stratospheric balloon flight FIK-6. This flight was unique because three different types of radiation detectors were used at one flight. It enabled us to compare the altitude of the Regener-Pfotzer maximum measured with different types of sensors sensitive to a different type of secondary cosmic radiation generated in the atmosphere.

Flying “Mock” CubeSats on Stratospheric Balloon Flights: An Update about “Mock P-PODs” and the 3U “MOC-SOC”

CubeSats areminiature satellites measuring only 10 by 10 by 10 cm (“1U”), or 10 by 10 by 20cm (“2U”), or 10 by 10 by 30 cm (“3U”), that are launched to orbit, usuallyalong with much-larger payloads, and deployed once in orbit using aspring-loaded ejection device known as a “(3U) P-POD” or else from 6U-deeplaunchers onboard the International Space Station. At AHAC 2019 we discussedhow we help train both stratospheric ballooning students and also CubeSat teammembers by challenging them to design and build functional, low-cost,non-space-rated (“mock”) CubeSat-shaped payloads. These are lofted by a “mockP-POD” into the stratosphere on weather balloon flights. The “mock P-POD”carries the “mock CubeSat(s)” internally until it is above the tropopause,after which it “deploys” it(them) to dangle externally for the duration of theascent and the full descent of the mission.MockCubeSats have varied widely in complexity and functionality, demonstrating theusefulness of this approach. They range from basic 3D-printed or laser-cutframes filled with independent, commercial-off-the-shelf sensors to custom-builtplatforms with ground telemetry and “smart” sensor-driven software. Our most technically-complex mock CubeSats to date,“MOC-SOC”, along with our mock P-POD deployer, have both undergone significantdevelopment in the past year. These upgrades have further-demonstrated the utilityof a stratospheric mock CubeSat program to both student training and ballooningpayload development. This project has also illustrated some of the limits of makinglow-cost models of space-bound payloads and flying them in near-space. Resultsfrom stratospheric balloon flights carrying MOC-SOC in 2020 will be discussed.

VHF Omnidirectional Range (VOR) Experimental Positioning for Stratospheric Vehicles

The usage of aeronautical radio-frequency navigational aids can support the future stratospheric aviation as back-up positioning systems. Although GNSS has been extensively redundant in the last years of space operations, radio NavAids can still be supportive of navigation and tracking for novel mission profiles. As an example, in 2016, VHF Omnidirectional Range (VOR) has been proven to work well above its standard service volume limit on a stratospheric balloon flight with the STRATONAV experiment. While VOR provides the “radial” measurement, i.e., the angle between the Magnetic North and the line between the receiver and the transmitting ground station, the intersection of two or more radials at a time allows to perform ground track reconstruction for the vehicle to be tracked. This paper reports the results from the data re-processing from STRATONAV: the acquired radials have been intersected in order to achieve positioning. The radials interfacing method, the position calculation methodology, and the data acquisition strategies from STRATONAV are reported together with the data analysis results.

Techniques for Payload Stabilization for Improved Photography During Stratospheric Balloon Flights

Payload-box rotation and swing are perennial challenges to achieving high-quality photography (typically videography) during weather-balloon flights to “near-space” (AKA the stratosphere). Continuous camera motion can lead to blurred still photos, nearly-impossible-to-watch video footage, and precludes time-exposure photography required for most astronomical imaging even though altitudes are reached where the daytime sky appears black. Apparently-random payload rotation, persisting even at altitude, can often exceed servo rotation rates and frustrate attempts to do active camera pointing. Here we discuss mostly-passive payload stabilization strategies we, and our collaborators, have used to mitigate and dampen both swing and rotation of suspended payloads on high-altitude balloon missions, primarily on ascent. In particular, we stress the importance of avoiding single “main” lines and of firmly coupling the payload stack to, as opposed to intentionally trying to decouple (rotationally) from, the neck of the balloon. We discuss consequences these strategies have on stack weight and also on the location of the parachute, sometimes displacing it from its normal location hanging between the neck of the balloon and the payload stack. We expect these payload stabilization techniques will be of particular interest to balloonists planning to photograph the total solar eclipse of August 2017.

The Coronal Magnetograph – CorMag: mission for the Stratospheric Hemera Mission

The Coronal Magnetograph - CorMag - experiment aims at studying the magnetic field topology of the solar corona. The direction of the coronal magnetic field vector would be derived from narrow-wavelength bandpass observations of the linearly polarized FeXIV line-emission (530.3 nm), interpreted through the saturated Hanle effect. CorMag is an internally-occulted coronagraph whose design was derived from the externally- occulted, formation-flying ASPIICS coronagraph of the PROBA-3 ESA solar mission. Prelim- inary tests of CorMag were carried out during two campaigns in Antarctica at the Concordia Italian-French Station in 2018/2019 and 2019/2020 (Fig. 1). This presentation reports the results of those tests. The European Union-funded HEMERA Program has selected CorMag for a stratospheric balloon flight is 2021. The configuration for this mission will be illustrated, together with the expected polarization sensitivity. This mission is a demonstrator for future space-based coronagraphs with the capability of visible-light and infrared polarization measurements for coronal magnetic field diagnostics.

Trajectories of long duration balloons launched from McMurdo Station in Antarctica

The Columbia Scientific Ballooning Facility operates stratospheric balloon flights out of McMurdo Station in Antarctica. We use balloon trajectory data from 40 flights between 1991 and 2020 to give the first quantification of trajectory statistics. We provide the probabilities as a function of time for the payload to be between given latitudes, and we quantify the southernmost and northernmost latitudes a payload is likely to attain. We find that for a flight duration of 18 days, there is 90% probability the balloon would drift as far south as 88°S or as far north as 71°S; shorter flights are likely to experience smaller ranges in latitude. These statistics, which are available digitally in the public domain, will enable scientists planning future balloon flights to make informed decisions during both mission design and execution.

UV-Induced Nanoparticles-Formation, Properties and Their Potential Role in Origin of Life.

Inorganic nanoparticles might have played a vital role in the transition from inorganic chemistry to self-sustaining living systems. Such transition may have been triggered or controlled by processes requiring not only versatile catalysts but also suitable reaction surfaces. Here, experimental results showing that multicolor quantum dots might have been able to participate as catalysts in several specific and nonspecific reactions, relevant to the prebiotic chemistry are demonstrated. A very fast and easy UV-induced formation of ZnCd quantum dots (QDs) with a quantum yield of up to 47% was shown to occur 5 min after UV exposure of the solution containing Zn(II) and Cd(II) in the presence of a thiol capping agent. In addition to QDs formation, xanthine activity was observed in the solution. The role of solar radiation to induce ZnCd QDs formation was replicated during a stratospheric balloon flight.

The long duration cryogenic system of the OLIMPO balloon–borne experiment: Design and in–flight performance

We describe the design and in–flight performance of the cryostat and the self–contained 3He refrigerator for the OLIMPO balloon–borne experiment, a spectrophotometer to measure the Sunyaev–Zel’dovich effect in clusters of galaxies.The 3He refrigerator provides the 0.3 K operation temperature for the four arrays of kinetic inductance detectors working in 4 bands centered at 150, 250, 350 and 460 GHz. The cryostat provides the 1.65 K base temperature for the 3He refrigerator, and cools down the reimaging optics and the filters chain at about 2 K.The integrated system was designed for a hold time of about 15 days, to achieve the sensitivity required by the planned OLIMPO observations, and successfully operated during the first long–duration stratospheric flight of OLIMPO in July 2018.The cryostat features two tanks, one for liquid nitrogen and the other one for liquid helium. The long hold time has been achieved by means of custom stiff G10 fiberglass tubes support, which ensures low thermal conductivity and remarkable structural stiffness; multi–layer superinsulation, and a vapour cooled shield, all reducing the heat load on the liquid helium tank.The system was tested in the lab, with more than 15 days of unmanned operations, and then in the long duration balloon flight in the stratosphere. In both cases, the detector temperature was below 300 mK, with thermal stability better than ±0.5 mK.The system also operated successfully in the long duration stratospheric balloon flight.

First in situ UV profile across the UTLS accompanied by ozone measurement over the Tibetan Plateau

Ultraviolet radiation (UV) and ozone can greatly affect human health and the Earth's ecological environment. By deploying a UV radiometer aboard a stratospheric balloon released at Qaidam (QDM) during the Asian summer monsoon (ASM) period in 2019, we provided in situ measurement of the UV profiles from the surface to the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere over the Tibetan Plateau (TP), China, for the first time. Based on two in situ UV profiles accompanied by four ozonesonde measurements, this study exhibited detailed variations of downwelling UV and vertical ozone distributions over the TP during the ASM period. The UV differences between the surface and stratospheric balloon flight altitudes were 16.7, 15.8, 12.6 and 18.0 Wm−2 during the four ozonesonde launches. Due to the diurnal variations in photochemical production and the stratosphere-troposphere exchange, the integrated ozone columns below 30 km ranged from 184.4 to 221.6 DU from four ozonesonde measurements. A positive correlation between UV attenuation and ozone column was exhibited under low cloud cover and clear sky conditions. The results of this study are expected to improve our understanding of UV and ozone properties, as well as their potential effects on terrestrial ecosystems and living environments over this significant plateau.

Ultraviolet light measurements (280–400 nm) acquired from stratospheric balloon flight to assess influence on bioaerosols

Viable microorganisms collected from the Earth’s upper atmosphere are mysterious considering the intensely biocidal ultraviolet (UV) light conditions dominating rarefied air. Historically, most investigations examining the relationship between bioaerosols and UV conditions in the upper atmosphere have relied upon model-generated data. To address the shortage of in situ UV measurements in the upper troposphere and lower/middle stratosphere, we flew a meteorological balloon equipped with a UV radiometer and other core environmental sensors. The balloon payload launched from Illinois, USA, on October 6, 2018, and acquired UVA (315–400 nm) + UVB (280–315 nm) measurements for ~ 2 h up to 30.9 km. Above the atmospheric boundary layer, UVA + UVB values registered around 6 mW cm−2, results that were largely consistent with Tropospheric Ultraviolet–Visible model predictions. Performed in a low-cost, reusable manner with commercially available instruments, we show that reliable UV flux data can be acquired with meteorological balloon payload systems. This short communication provides relevant UVA + UVB results for aerobiology and astrobiology studies evaluating the survivability of microorganisms in the upper atmosphere.

Measurements of aerosols and charged particles on the BEXUS18 stratospheric balloon

Abstract. This paper describes the aerosol measurement setup and results obtained during the BEXUS18 (Balloon-borne Experiments for University Students) stratospheric balloon within the A5-Unibo (Advanced Atmospheric Aerosol Acquisition and Analysis) experiment performed on 10 October 2014 in northern Sweden (Kiruna). The experimental setup was designed and developed by the University of Bologna with the aim of collecting and analyzing vertical profiles of atmospheric ions and particles together with atmospheric parameters (temperature, relative humidity, and pressure) all along the stratospheric ascent of the BEXUS18 stratospheric balloon. Particle size distributions were measured with the MeteoModem Light Optical Aerosol Counter (LOAC) and air ion density was measured with a set of two commercial and portable ion counters. Though the experimental setup was based upon relatively low-cost and light-weight sensors, vertical profiles of all the parameters up to an altitude of about 27 km were successfully collected. The results obtained are useful for elucidating the relationships between aerosols and charged particles between ground level and the stratosphere, with great potential in collecting and adding useful information in this field, also in the stratosphere where such measurements are rare. In particular, the equipment detected coherent vertical profiles for particles and ions, with a particularly strong correlation between negative ions and fine particles, possibly resulting from proposed associations between cosmic rays and ions as previously suggested. In addition, the detection of charged aerosols in the stratosphere is in agreement with the results obtained by a previous flight and with simulations conducted with a stratospheric ion–aerosol model. However, further measurements under stratospheric balloon flights equipped with a similar setup are needed to reach general conclusions about such important issues.

What We Can Learn from the Electric Field and Conductivity Measurements in Auroral Atmosphere

AbstractIn this paper we present measurements of the electric field and electric conductivity of air performed with the Short Dipole Antenna (SDA) in the auroral atmosphere. The observations were carried out during two stratospheric balloon flights in the northern Sweden in winter of 2011. Two‐fold objectives were attained as the outcome of these flights and the data analysis. First aimed at understanding the mechanisms that control the electric properties of the auroral atmosphere and at estimation of some key parameters from the measured data, such as the charge and current density, the mobility of the small‐ions, their concentration and generation rate, as well as the radiation dose rate. Second objective was to test the SDA instrument performances in a radiation environment close to that we expect to encounter near the Mars surface.

Inflatable antenna for a nanosatellite

A topical problem for near-Earth orbit nanosatellites is the creation of a reliable inflatable antenna. The nanosatellite antenna should be small-sized and should take the given form after launching into orbit. This paper proposes a technology for manufacturing an inflatable antenna from prepreg which is hardened in space orbit. At the same time, all the advantages of inflatable antennas are preserved (small volume and weight, simplicity of design and reliability of bringing into working condition, long-distance steady communication). Small dust particles moving at cosmic speeds cannot damage such an antenna. There is also no need to constantly pump gas into the inflatable elements of the antenna, hence there is no need for mechanisms to provide adjustment of gas supply, additional tanks with gas or tanks with chemical elements to obtain it. The process of selecting a suitable reaction mixture for pre-preg hardening is considered in the paper, the main criteria for the selection being low volatility of its components and hot hardening ability. The results of stratospheric balloon flight with pre-preg samples are given. The design of the inflatable antenna is proposed.

Survival of Extremophilic Yeasts in the Stratospheric Environment during Balloon Flights and in Laboratory Simulations.

The high-altitude atmosphere is a harsh environment with extremely low temperatures, low pressure, and high UV irradiation. For this reason, it has been proposed as an analogue for Mars, presenting deleterious factors similar to those on the surface of that planet. We evaluated the survival of extremophilic UV-resistant yeasts isolated from a high-elevation area in the Atacama Desert under stratospheric conditions. As biological controls, intrinsically resistant Bacillus subtilis spores were used. Experiments were performed in two independent stratospheric balloon flights and with an environmental simulation chamber. The three following different conditions were evaluated: (i) desiccation, (ii) desiccation plus exposure to stratospheric low pressure and temperature, and (3) desiccation plus exposure to the full stratospheric environment (UV, low pressure, and temperature). Two strains, Naganishia (Cryptococcus) friedmannii 16LV2 and Exophiala sp. strain 15LV1, survived full exposures to the stratosphere in larger numbers than did B. subtilis spores. Holtermanniella watticus (also known as Holtermanniella wattica) 16LV1, however, suffered a substantial loss in viability upon desiccation and did not survive the stratospheric UV exposure. The remarkable resilience of N. friedmannii and Exophiala sp. 15LV1 under the extreme Mars-like conditions of the stratosphere confirms its potential as a eukaryotic model for astrobiology. Additionally, our results with N. friedmannii strengthen the recent hypothesis that yeasts belonging to the Naganishia genus are fit for aerial dispersion, which might account for the observed abundance of this species in high-elevation soils.IMPORTANCE Studies of eukaryotic microorganisms under conditions of astrobiological relevance, as well as the aerial dispersion potential of extremophilic yeasts, are still lacking in the literature compared to works with bacteria. Using stratospheric balloon flights and a simulation chamber, we demonstrate that yeasts isolated from an extreme environment are capable of surviving all stressors found in the stratosphere, including intense UV irradiation, scoring an even higher survival than B. subtilis spores. Notably, the yeast N. friedmannii, which displayed one of the highest tolerances to the stratospheric environment in the experiments, was recently proposed to be adapted to airborne transportation, although such a hypothesis had not yet been tested. Our results strengthen such an assumption and can help explain the observed distribution and ecology of this particular yeast species.

Methodology of the first combined in-flight and ex situ stability assessment of organic-based solar cells for space applications

Abstract

A thermal model to investigate the power output of solar array for stratospheric balloons in real environment

It is very important to solve the energy problem of stratospheric balloon to operate at high altitude for extended durations. Solar energy is the ideal power choice for long endurance stratospheric balloon. This study outlines a simplified numerical model validated using field data covers the thermal model of solar array that is not affected by balloon inside environment as airship does, the solar radiation model, the power output model. The predicted and measured solar array temperature and output power values yield correspondence with deviations below 2.16%, 6.6%, respectively. Based on this numerical model, computer program has been developed and simulated. The simulation was applied to a stratospheric balloon flight in one of the cities of Turkey’s atmospheric conditions including real wind data. The output performance of solar array with and without thermal effect is reported. Furthermore, transmissivity of external encapsulation, wind speed on thermal performance and power output of solar array is discussed in detail. The results would be helpful for the design, operation of stratospheric balloon solar power system.

In situ measurements of methane in the troposphere and the stratosphere by the Ultra Light SpEctrometer Amulse

Methane plays an important role in the radiative balance of the Earth climate: about 20% of the manmade global warming is related to methane emissions. To contribute to the study of CH4 trends, we have developed a compact lightweight spectrometer (2.5 kg) by combining an antimonide laser diode at 3.24 µm with an 8 m optical multipass path cell open to the atmosphere. This laser sensor is to be operated from weather balloons to provide with regular in situ methane soundings from ground level up to ~ 25 km. In this paper, the laser sensor is described as well as the processing of the absorption spectra and the calibration of the instrument. The concentration data obtained from recent stratospheric balloon flights are reported and discussed.