Analysis Code for High Altitude Balloons - FedOA - Università degli ...

Introduction Chapter 1
Asia
Canada
USA
Japan
India
Australian
Continent Australia
Antarctica
(Japan)
(USA)
Scientific Instrumentation
Balloon Launch Facility,
Vanscoy
90
Columbia Scientific
Balloon Facility,
1500
Palestine, TX
Holloman Air Force
Base, Alamogordo, NM 2000
Fort Sumner Municipal
Airport, NM 250
Sanriku Balloon Center,
Iwate 500
National Balloon Facility,
Hyderabad 400
Australian Balloon
Launch Station, Alice
Spring
Syowa Station
150
30
Williams Field,
McMurdo Base 60
Table 1.2 – Main balloon launch bases around the world.
This global interest in scientific ballooning makes evident the fact that this kind of
approach to scientific research for near-space applications is both successful and
cost-effective. Indeed, as it will be described later, models and methodologies
developed in this work are applied to a particular and quite innovative use of
high-altitude balloons as carrier system.
1.3 – Zero-Pressure Balloons
Zero-pressure balloons are the simplest and most common concept of high-altitude
scientific balloon. This section reports a more detailed description of this kind of
balloons since they are the main subject of the present work.
Zero-pressure balloons volume varies from 50000 m 3 to 2 Mm 3 (see Table 1.1),
which can carry payloads between 100 kg and 2000 kg (the record is 3600 kg)
between 25 and 40km (the record is 42 km) 2 .
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