Multihour Stratospheric Flights with the Heliotrope Solar Hot-Air Balloon
Standard meteorological balloons can deliver small scientific payloads to the stratosphere for a few tens of minutes, but achieving multihour level flight in this region is more difficult. We have developed a solar-powered hot-air balloon named the heliotrope that can maintain a nearly constant alti...
Published in: | Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology |
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ftosti:oai:osti.gov:1617325 2023-07-30T04:01:48+02:00 Multihour Stratospheric Flights with the Heliotrope Solar Hot-Air Balloon Bowman, Daniel C. Norman, Paul E. Pauken, Michael T. Albert, Sarah A. Dexheimer, Darielle Yang, Xiao Krishnamoorthy, Siddharth Komjathy, Attila Cutts, James A. 2021-06-02 application/pdf http://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1617325 https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1617325 https://doi.org/10.1175/JTECH-D-19-0175.1 unknown http://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1617325 https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1617325 https://doi.org/10.1175/JTECH-D-19-0175.1 doi:10.1175/JTECH-D-19-0175.1 54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES 2021 ftosti https://doi.org/10.1175/JTECH-D-19-0175.1 2023-07-11T09:41:50Z Standard meteorological balloons can deliver small scientific payloads to the stratosphere for a few tens of minutes, but achieving multihour level flight in this region is more difficult. We have developed a solar-powered hot-air balloon named the heliotrope that can maintain a nearly constant altitude in the upper troposphere–lower stratosphere as long as the sun is above the horizon. It can accommodate scientific payloads ranging from hundreds of grams to several kilograms. The balloon can achieve float altitudes exceeding 24 km and fly for days in the Arctic summer, although sunset provides a convenient flight termination mechanism at lower latitudes. Two people can build an envelope in about 3.5 h, and the materials cost about $30. The low cost and simplicity of the heliotrope enables a class of missions that is generally out of reach of institutions lacking specialized balloon expertise. Here, we discuss the design history, construction techniques, trajectory characteristics, and flight prediction of the heliotrope balloon. Finally, we conclude with a discussion of the physics of solar hot-air balloon flight. Other/Unknown Material Arctic SciTec Connect (Office of Scientific and Technical Information - OSTI, U.S. Department of Energy) Arctic Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology 37 6 1051 1066 |
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Open Polar |
collection |
SciTec Connect (Office of Scientific and Technical Information - OSTI, U.S. Department of Energy) |
op_collection_id |
ftosti |
language |
unknown |
topic |
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES |
spellingShingle |
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES Bowman, Daniel C. Norman, Paul E. Pauken, Michael T. Albert, Sarah A. Dexheimer, Darielle Yang, Xiao Krishnamoorthy, Siddharth Komjathy, Attila Cutts, James A. Multihour Stratospheric Flights with the Heliotrope Solar Hot-Air Balloon |
topic_facet |
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES |
description |
Standard meteorological balloons can deliver small scientific payloads to the stratosphere for a few tens of minutes, but achieving multihour level flight in this region is more difficult. We have developed a solar-powered hot-air balloon named the heliotrope that can maintain a nearly constant altitude in the upper troposphere–lower stratosphere as long as the sun is above the horizon. It can accommodate scientific payloads ranging from hundreds of grams to several kilograms. The balloon can achieve float altitudes exceeding 24 km and fly for days in the Arctic summer, although sunset provides a convenient flight termination mechanism at lower latitudes. Two people can build an envelope in about 3.5 h, and the materials cost about $30. The low cost and simplicity of the heliotrope enables a class of missions that is generally out of reach of institutions lacking specialized balloon expertise. Here, we discuss the design history, construction techniques, trajectory characteristics, and flight prediction of the heliotrope balloon. Finally, we conclude with a discussion of the physics of solar hot-air balloon flight. |
author |
Bowman, Daniel C. Norman, Paul E. Pauken, Michael T. Albert, Sarah A. Dexheimer, Darielle Yang, Xiao Krishnamoorthy, Siddharth Komjathy, Attila Cutts, James A. |
author_facet |
Bowman, Daniel C. Norman, Paul E. Pauken, Michael T. Albert, Sarah A. Dexheimer, Darielle Yang, Xiao Krishnamoorthy, Siddharth Komjathy, Attila Cutts, James A. |
author_sort |
Bowman, Daniel C. |
title |
Multihour Stratospheric Flights with the Heliotrope Solar Hot-Air Balloon |
title_short |
Multihour Stratospheric Flights with the Heliotrope Solar Hot-Air Balloon |
title_full |
Multihour Stratospheric Flights with the Heliotrope Solar Hot-Air Balloon |
title_fullStr |
Multihour Stratospheric Flights with the Heliotrope Solar Hot-Air Balloon |
title_full_unstemmed |
Multihour Stratospheric Flights with the Heliotrope Solar Hot-Air Balloon |
title_sort |
multihour stratospheric flights with the heliotrope solar hot-air balloon |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
http://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1617325 https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1617325 https://doi.org/10.1175/JTECH-D-19-0175.1 |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic |
genre_facet |
Arctic |
op_relation |
http://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1617325 https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1617325 https://doi.org/10.1175/JTECH-D-19-0175.1 doi:10.1175/JTECH-D-19-0175.1 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1175/JTECH-D-19-0175.1 |
container_title |
Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology |
container_volume |
37 |
container_issue |
6 |
container_start_page |
1051 |
op_container_end_page |
1066 |
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1772812544165019648 |