Details of the balloon and launch operations

Launch site: European Space Range, Kiruna, Sweden
Launch team: CNES
Balloon: Open balloon model 100z 100.000 m3
Serial number: -
Flight identification number: -
Campaign: ENVISAT IV
Payload weight: -
Gondola weight: -
Overall weight: -

The balloon was successfully launched by dynamic method assisted by an auxiliary balloon under windy conditions at 16:06 UTC on January 16th, reaching a flight level of 34 km.

Then started a slow controled descent by several hours until the cut down command was given at 21:25 UTC and the payload landed in the north part of Finland, near the lake Inari. The gondola structure was damaged during the landing without however affecting the instrument.

Description of the payload or experiment

SALOMON (Spectroscopie d'Absorption Lunaire pour l'Observation des Minoritaires Ozone et Nox)

Responsable institution: Laboratoire de Physique et Chimie de l'Environnement (LPCE) / Centre National de Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
Principal Investigator: Jean-Baptiste Renard

Is a balloon-borne UV-Visible spectrometer (350 - 700 nm) that uses the moon as the light source.

The instrument is dedicated to the measurement of the vertical distribution O3, NO2, NO3, OClO, OBrO and of the extinction coefficient of aerosols beetween 15 and 40 kms.

It's a totally autonomus instrument and weights 85 kgs.

Performance in flight and data obtained

The aim of this campaign was to determine the limitations of the remote sensing measurement methods of stratospheric species used in particular by satellite instruments such as those onboard ENVISAT (e.g. GOMOS).

During this flight SALOMON conducted its observations during the balloon ascent (from 14 to 34 km) and for the first time during a slow descent (from 34 to 18.5 km).