cross the Atlantic Ocean and balloon à la force des vents

With the TRANSAT 2024 campaign, the CNES announced on April 30 that the premiere of a balloon stratospheric revelation is not the object that crosses the Atlantic Ocean. It represents a real defi technique for the ballooniers and a demonstration of the versatility of this type of air flow.

In fact, the TRANSAT 2024 Balloon Stratospheric Openings (BSO) campaign will head to the higher latitudes of the Suede in June, in the forest environment. The organization of the CNES based on the Esrange base in Kiruna, this new campaign prevoit de mise in the triple BSO œuvre.

The three parts, named Sapheraller, Transat and Atmosfer, will work with a total of 25 instruments and scientific experiences.

Developed and operating laboratories of French and international laboratories, which charge different costs in the domains of the observation of the terrain and of the sciences of the university with the nuages ​​​​and the particles at altitude, or the granting of the altitude study the radiation current and its impact on life and electronics.

« This campaign involves an environmental organization with environmental transport of 90 tons of material from France to Suède. There are new equipment that serve in an integrated place, with the scientific instruments, the instruments in the cabin, but also the various balloons that use a control room. This is a particularly useful part of the journey that crosses the Atlantic Ocean at an altitude of 40 kilometers » explicit Stéphane Louvelsous-director adjoint à la sous-direction Ballons du CNES and chef de la campaign TRANSAT 2024.

Mechanism of deployment and orientation in azimuth (Medor) at an altitude of 40 km. Credit: CNES, 2023

A premiere and a debut for the teams

The aim of Transatlantique is to dismantle the capacity of BSO Frenchmen over a long period of time. If the balloon has an imposing mass of 2.9 tons, there is an envelope of more than 800,000 m3, which weighs 6 pieces of the volume of the Arc de Triomphe. Il traversera l’océan Atlantique grâce aux vents d’Est en Ouest, survolera le Groenland, avant de s’arrêter dans le grand nord Canadien où l’enveloppe du balloon en de nacelle, seront recupérerer par une équipe French-Canadian menée par l ‘Agence Spatiale Canadienne (ASC).

Stéphane Louvel details the details that support the full and system developments for this demonstration: « At Transat, one of our principles is challenged by the advancement of an interaction with the scientific instruments on the board, the ocean or in the regions and stations of the ocean. For the liaison, the CNES sets up a déportée station at Kangerlussuaq on the west side of Greenland. There are now two double connections between the grace of a lien satellite Inmarsat and the transfer of liens Iridium déjà on a place on our nacelle of servitude operations.
The autonomy of the car gondolas is used to provide an alternative with the development of an energy system that can be renewed on the board. The system, called Medor, can now use solar energy in the nacelle. It is installed on a horizontal axis of rotation that provides the pointer on the Soleil and the Fournir that is energetic when attending scientific instruments, thus limiting the number of batteries.
»

The transatlantic part of a BSO, do not allow the envelope in polyethylene to measure that 15 micron particle – four times as much as a cheveu – offers the opportunity to demonstrate the robustness of the type of balloon in the Rayonnement. This evidence confirms the capacity of these vols to realize the scientific measurements on a large spatial window in the high stratosphere.