Local Motions of a Payload Supported by a Nolaro Tri -Tethered Balloon

摘要

This report studies the local motions of a payload supported by a NOLARO tri-tethered natural shape balloon. A 793 cu m (28,000 ft cu ft) natural shape balloon on a 13.2mm (0.52 in) diameter NOLARO tri-tethered cable array was flown with the payload at an altitude of 140M (460 ft) AGL. Test constraints included separating the payload from all metal by 15M (50 ft) and from the balloon by 45M (150 ft). The payload had to remain within a 3 meter radius sphere for all 25 test runs. These tests were conducted at Holloman AFB and White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico. Target position, tangential speed and acceleration were determined by using the White Sands Missile Range cinetheodolite system. Actual results are compared with theoretical data.