Purpose of the flight and payload description
The objective of the CLIMAT (Combinaison de Lasers et d'Instruments in situ de Mesure dans l'Atmosphère Terrestre) mission was to perform coordinated in situ measurements of atmospheric composition and climate variables using a common gondola carrying instruments from several French and European laboratories.
The platform used is the HELIOS gondola, a steel frame structure assembled from struts and spherical nodes developed by CNES. It measures 2.06 × 1.43 × 1.44 m, have an empty mass of 90 kg, and is designed to carry payloads up to 180 kg. Scientific equipment can be mounted either on the floor or directly onto the structural walls, allowing flexible internal arrangement of medium-sized instruments. The structural layout facilitates payload integration while maintaining compatibility with the standard CNES zero-pressure balloon flight train. The gondola does not include an integrated pointing system, its primary function being mechanical support and accommodation of scientific instrumentation. During flight it can interface with the standard CNES payload gondola infrastructure.
The flight was intended to reproduce the scientific objectives of the 2015 Timmins mission at high latitudes while using an expanded payload to obtain simultaneous atmospheric measurements of greenhouse gases and water vapor. The payload included four PicoSDLA laser spectrometers measuring methane, carbon monoxide, water vapor and water isotopes, three AMULSE spectrometers measuring carbon dioxide, methane and combined CO2/CH4, four AirCore atmospheric sampling systems developed by the Laboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique, and a LOAC aerosol particle counter. One AirCore-Light sampler was dedicated to isotopic water vapor analyses by the LSCE.
The primary objective was to acquire simultaneous in situ and AirCore measurements of methane and carbon dioxide throughout the atmospheric column. Water vapor observations obtained by the Pico-H2O instrument were used to improve carbon dioxide retrieval accuracy. Additional technology demonstrations included the second flight of the PicoSDLA-STRAT instrument to evaluate multiplexed CO2 and H2O measurement configurations in preparation for the STRATEOLE-2 campaign, the first flight of the Bi-GAS AMULSE instrument measuring CO2 and CH4, and the first technological flight of an internally mounted PicoSDLA-Light instrument.
Two auxiliary experiments were also conducted: a GPS test complemented measurements obtained during the 2015 Timmins campaign in support of the development of a future high-precision atomic clock project while an infrared radiometer measured the upward terrestrial infrared radiation flux throughout the flight.
Details of the balloon flight
Balloon launched on: 8/29/2016 at 3:24 UTC
Launch site: European Space Range, Kiruna, Sweden
Balloon launched by: Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES)
Balloon manufacturer/size/composition: Zero Pressure Balloon
End of flight (L for landing time, W for last contact, otherwise termination time): 8/29/2016 at 9:30 UTC
Balloon flight duration (F: time at float only, otherwise total flight time in d:days / h:hours or m:minutes - ): 6 h
Landing site: 150 km E of Kiruna, Sweden
Campaign: KASA 2016
The balloon was launched from ESRANGE at 3:24 UTC on August 25, 2016. After reaching float altitude, the balloon maintained level flight before performing a controlled slow descent extending from approximately 33 km to 17 km altitude. This profile increased the residence time within the lower stratosphere and upper troposphere, improving the vertical sampling of greenhouse gases and water vapor. Flight conditions were defined exclusively by the scientific requirements of the atmospheric gas measurements, while the technology demonstrations operated as opportunity experiments without modifying the mission profile.
Landing occured in a secure area 150 km E of Kiruna at 9:20 UTC. Total flight time was about 6 hours.
External references
- Caractérisation de la distribution verticale des gaz à effet de serre CO2 et CH4 par mesures sous ballons. Application à la validation dobservations satellites Ph.D. Thesis by Olivier Membrive, Université Pierre et Marie Curie (2016)
- CNES KASA Campaign successfully completed SSC Space website (via Archive.Org)
- KASA 2016 Canadian Space Agency
- List of balloons launched from ESRANGE SSC Space website (via Archive.Org)
- Premier vol : CLIMAT CNES website
Images of the mission
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