Download by parachute: Retrieval of assets from high altitude balloons

E. L. Sirks; P. Clark; R. J. Massey; S. J. Benton; A. M. Brown; C. J. Damaren; T. Eifler; A. A. Fraisse; C. Frenk; M. Funk; M. N. Galloway; A. Gill; J. W. Hartley; B. Holder; E. M. Huff; M. Jauzac; W. C. Jones; D. Lagattuta; J. S.Y. Leung; L. Li; T. V.T. Luu; J. McCleary; J. M. Nagy; C. B. Netterfield; S. Redmond; J. D. Rhodes; L. J. Romualdez; J. Schmoll; M. M. Shaaban; S. I. Tam

doi:10.1088/1748-0221/15/05/P05014

Download by parachute: Retrieval of assets from high altitude balloons

E. L. Sirks, P. Clark, R. J. Massey, S. J. Benton, A. M. Brown, C. J. Damaren, T. Eifler, A. A. Fraisse, C. Frenk, M. Funk, M. N. Galloway, A. Gill, J. W. Hartley, B. Holder, E. M. Huff, M. Jauzac, W. C. Jones, D. Lagattuta, J. S.Y. Leung, L. LiT. V.T. Luu, J. McCleary, J. M. Nagy, C. B. Netterfield, S. Redmond, J. D. Rhodes, L. J. Romualdez, J. Schmoll, M. M. Shaaban, S. I. Tam

Astronomy

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

5 Scopus citations

Abstract

We present a publicly-available toolkit of flight-proven hardware and software to retrieve 5 TB of data or small physical samples from a stratospheric balloon platform. Before launch, a capsule is attached to the balloon, and rises with it. Upon remote command, the capsule is released and descends via parachute, continuously transmitting its location. Software to predict the trajectory can be used to select a safe but accessible landing site. We dropped two such capsules from the SUPERBIT telescope, in September 2019. The capsules took ∼37 minutes to descend from ∼30 km altitude. They drifted 32 km and 19 km horizontally, but landed within 300 m and 600 m of their predicted landing sites. We found them easily, and successfully recovered the data. We welcome interest from other balloon teams for whom the technology would be useful.

Original language	English (US)
Article number	P05014
Journal	Journal of Instrumentation
Volume	15
Issue number	5
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-0221/15/05/P05014
State	Published - May 2020

Keywords

Balloon instrumentation
Data Handling
Large detector-systems performance
Models and simulations

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Instrumentation
Mathematical Physics

Access to Document

10.1088/1748-0221/15/05/P05014

Cite this

Sirks, E. L., Clark, P., Massey, R. J., Benton, S. J., Brown, A. M., Damaren, C. J., Eifler, T., Fraisse, A. A., Frenk, C., Funk, M., Galloway, M. N., Gill, A., Hartley, J. W., Holder, B., Huff, E. M., Jauzac, M., Jones, W. C., Lagattuta, D., Leung, J. S. Y., ... Tam, S. I. (2020). Download by parachute: Retrieval of assets from high altitude balloons. Journal of Instrumentation, 15(5), Article P05014. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-0221/15/05/P05014

Sirks, EL, Clark, P, Massey, RJ, Benton, SJ, Brown, AM, Damaren, CJ, Eifler, T, Fraisse, AA, Frenk, C, Funk, M, Galloway, MN, Gill, A, Hartley, JW, Holder, B, Huff, EM, Jauzac, M, Jones, WC, Lagattuta, D, Leung, JSY, Li, L, Luu, TVT, McCleary, J, Nagy, JM, Netterfield, CB, Redmond, S, Rhodes, JD, Romualdez, LJ, Schmoll, J, Shaaban, MM & Tam, SI 2020, 'Download by parachute: Retrieval of assets from high altitude balloons', Journal of Instrumentation, vol. 15, no. 5, P05014. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-0221/15/05/P05014

@article{6fb270d4b5ff4357bcf254eb396600bf,

title = "Download by parachute: Retrieval of assets from high altitude balloons",

abstract = "We present a publicly-available toolkit of flight-proven hardware and software to retrieve 5 TB of data or small physical samples from a stratospheric balloon platform. Before launch, a capsule is attached to the balloon, and rises with it. Upon remote command, the capsule is released and descends via parachute, continuously transmitting its location. Software to predict the trajectory can be used to select a safe but accessible landing site. We dropped two such capsules from the SUPERBIT telescope, in September 2019. The capsules took ∼37 minutes to descend from ∼30 km altitude. They drifted 32 km and 19 km horizontally, but landed within 300 m and 600 m of their predicted landing sites. We found them easily, and successfully recovered the data. We welcome interest from other balloon teams for whom the technology would be useful.",

keywords = "Balloon instrumentation, Data Handling, Large detector-systems performance, Models and simulations",

author = "Sirks, {E. L.} and P. Clark and Massey, {R. J.} and Benton, {S. J.} and Brown, {A. M.} and Damaren, {C. J.} and T. Eifler and Fraisse, {A. A.} and C. Frenk and M. Funk and Galloway, {M. N.} and A. Gill and Hartley, {J. W.} and B. Holder and Huff, {E. M.} and M. Jauzac and Jones, {W. C.} and D. Lagattuta and Leung, {J. S.Y.} and L. Li and Luu, {T. V.T.} and J. McCleary and Nagy, {J. M.} and Netterfield, {C. B.} and S. Redmond and Rhodes, {J. D.} and Romualdez, {L. J.} and J. Schmoll and Shaaban, {M. M.} and Tam, {S. I.}",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2020 The Author(s).",

year = "2020",

month = may,

doi = "10.1088/1748-0221/15/05/P05014",

language = "English (US)",

volume = "15",

journal = "Journal of Instrumentation",

issn = "1748-0221",

publisher = "IOP Publishing Ltd.",

number = "5",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Download by parachute

T2 - Retrieval of assets from high altitude balloons

AU - Sirks, E. L.

AU - Clark, P.

AU - Massey, R. J.

AU - Benton, S. J.

AU - Brown, A. M.

AU - Damaren, C. J.

AU - Eifler, T.

AU - Fraisse, A. A.

AU - Frenk, C.

AU - Funk, M.

AU - Galloway, M. N.

AU - Gill, A.

AU - Hartley, J. W.

AU - Holder, B.

AU - Huff, E. M.

AU - Jauzac, M.

AU - Jones, W. C.

AU - Lagattuta, D.

AU - Leung, J. S.Y.

AU - Li, L.

AU - Luu, T. V.T.

AU - McCleary, J.

AU - Nagy, J. M.

AU - Netterfield, C. B.

AU - Redmond, S.

AU - Rhodes, J. D.

AU - Romualdez, L. J.

AU - Schmoll, J.

AU - Shaaban, M. M.

AU - Tam, S. I.

PY - 2020/5

Y1 - 2020/5

N2 - We present a publicly-available toolkit of flight-proven hardware and software to retrieve 5 TB of data or small physical samples from a stratospheric balloon platform. Before launch, a capsule is attached to the balloon, and rises with it. Upon remote command, the capsule is released and descends via parachute, continuously transmitting its location. Software to predict the trajectory can be used to select a safe but accessible landing site. We dropped two such capsules from the SUPERBIT telescope, in September 2019. The capsules took ∼37 minutes to descend from ∼30 km altitude. They drifted 32 km and 19 km horizontally, but landed within 300 m and 600 m of their predicted landing sites. We found them easily, and successfully recovered the data. We welcome interest from other balloon teams for whom the technology would be useful.

AB - We present a publicly-available toolkit of flight-proven hardware and software to retrieve 5 TB of data or small physical samples from a stratospheric balloon platform. Before launch, a capsule is attached to the balloon, and rises with it. Upon remote command, the capsule is released and descends via parachute, continuously transmitting its location. Software to predict the trajectory can be used to select a safe but accessible landing site. We dropped two such capsules from the SUPERBIT telescope, in September 2019. The capsules took ∼37 minutes to descend from ∼30 km altitude. They drifted 32 km and 19 km horizontally, but landed within 300 m and 600 m of their predicted landing sites. We found them easily, and successfully recovered the data. We welcome interest from other balloon teams for whom the technology would be useful.

KW - Balloon instrumentation

KW - Data Handling

KW - Large detector-systems performance

KW - Models and simulations

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85086068646&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85086068646&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1088/1748-0221/15/05/P05014

DO - 10.1088/1748-0221/15/05/P05014

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85086068646

SN - 1748-0221

VL - 15

JO - Journal of Instrumentation

JF - Journal of Instrumentation

IS - 5

M1 - P05014

ER -

Download by parachute: Retrieval of assets from high altitude balloons

Abstract

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this