Judi-Robin Balloon Dart Sounding Vehicle

摘要

The development of the JUDI-ROBIN BALLOON DART under the subject contract is described. The system has been designed to provide a low cost, passive meteorological system to obtain atmospheric density and wind data at altitudes from 100,000 to 215,000 feet. The sensor is a superpressurized mylar balloon which is one meter in diameter and contains a corner reflector. The balloon is tracked by radar and the desired information is obtained from the position-time history. Sixteen balloons were ejected from the DART in a vacuum chamber and 15 flight tests were conducted at White Sands Missile Range and Eglin Air Force Base. Two additional flights were conducted with telemetry aboard to measure the internal temperatures of the dart. The program demonstrated that the balloon could be ejected reliably at the desired altitude. Some difficulties were experienced with the balloon inflation, on the first three flights. However, an additional coat of insulating material solved this problem on subsequent flights. The standard ROBIN balloon system was used. Data reduction was not included in this contract. (Author)