A two-axis, pointing-type payload has been built that can be flown at Hollman Air Force Base on currently available balloons, using launch facilities and launch methods now being employed there. When attached to the flying lines of an aerodynamically shaped balloon it will point toward a target light on the ground in a daylight operation with a precision of + or - 0.75 deg when elevated to 10,000 feet. Heading of the payload axis is commandable from the ground, and target acquisition is aided by a search feature. The system was successfully tested in September 1981 while carrying a hitchhike experiment that measured IR transmission through the atmosphere. Other work accomplished under the contract included the assembly and modification of four smart valves, the fabrication of five Tufts-type payload releases for use by AFGL, assebling the facts and analyzing the probable reason why an insulating tether failed in Germany with a load of only 3 per cent of the breaking strength of the cable, and studying the problems involved in stabilizing two six-foot dish-type antennas held at the apex of a four-tether balloon arrangement.
Pointing Payload for Single Tether Balloons, and Other Projects
1982
18 pages
Report
No indication
English
Aircraft , Navigation & Guidance System Components , Infrared & Ultraviolet Detection , Balloons , Payload , Stabilized platforms , Aiming , Accuracy , Alignment , Release , Remote control , Mosaics(Detectors) , Antennas , Infrared detectors , Target acquisition , Surface targets , Cables , Tethering , Valves , Pointing , Smart valves , Dish antennas , Tethered balloons
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