Atmospheric modeling by SCRAT experiment

during the 2010 ESA BEXUS 10 Flight Campaign

G. Rodeghiero and L. Olivieri

CISAS University of Padova, Italy

A. Francesconi
CISAS University of Padova, Italy

Keywords: stratosphere, oscillations, attitude

ejecting gas through a nozzle at high speed in

Abstract
This paper discusses the atmospheric analyses
that were carried out using pressure and
temperature data collected during the flight of
the SCRAT experiment onboard the BEXUS 10
balloon. Here are underlined the vast
perspectives in terms of scientific data
evaluation, analysis and modeling that can be
retrieved by the use of simple commercial
temperature and pressure sensors.
An environmental model accounting for
radiative and convective energy transfer based
on the temperature and pressure data has been
developed. The diurnal effects on the
stratospheric temperature and other related
physical quantities as the lapse rate and the
water vapor content have been derived. As a by
product, the onboard temperature sensor used
as a Sun sensor can infer many information on
the attitude of the balloon by the study of the
temperature oscillations induced by the
balloon’s rotation during the floating phase.
order to create force. The aim of SCRAT was
the development and testing of the actuator on
the stratospheric platform provided by BEXUS
balloon. As a by-product SCRAT allowed to
measure the pressure and temperature of the
atmosphere and to study the related physical
quantities as the density, the atmospheric lapse
rate and the water vapor content. In addition,
from the analysis of the temperature spectrum, a
direct correlation between the temperature and
the attitude dynamics of the balloon was figured
out. The framework in which the experiment
has been designed is the REXUS/BEXUS
Programme [1], supported by the European
Space Agency, the Swedish Space Corporation
and DLR. It provides a unique opportunity to
gain experience in space field and related
researches by flying an experiment on a
sounding rocket (REXUS) or a stratospheric
balloon (BEXUS) along spatial and sub-spatial
trajectories. The project is addressed to groups
of students working together for a year to
design, develop and test an experiment in a real
space mission.

1 Introduction 2 Background and motivations

SCRAT (Spherical Compact Rechargeable Air Balloons can explore a wide range of altitudes
Thruster) is a low-thrust cold gas actuator, (15m – 45 km), and thanks to their variable size,
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 G. Rodeghiero, L. Olivieri, A. Francesconi

between 3000 and 1.200.000 m3, they can lift lifted 263 kg (total weight of gondola, EBASS
payloads up to 3000 kg for a time flight and parachute) at a mean altitude of 25 km; the
spanning from a few hours to a few weeks. The flight train was equipped with a 120 m2 area
main studies concern astronomy, since the parachute to control and decelerate the gondola
instrument can work above the disturbing during the descent phase into the atmosphere,
atmosphere, planetary and atmospheric physics, the total length of the flight train was about 138
microgravity by dropping off payloads from the m.
gondola where there is a large free landing area
and the test of new aerospace and re-entry
vehicles. Since the first decades of the last
century a lot of stratospheric balloons were
launched from many different locations, but
they remain still today a suitable platform to
study the atmosphere, the climate and the
pollution of the Earth as evidenced by the
important results from missions like
Concordiasi [2] and programs like the
"Programme Nationale de Chimie
Atmospherique" [3]. BEXUS 10 was launched
from the ESRANGE base (67°N Lat, 20° E
Lon), about 200 km above the Arctic polar
cycle. Typically a polar flight can explore a
deeper region of the stratosphere since the
gravitational force experimented near the poles
Fig. 1 BEXUS 10 flight train, photo courtesy SSC [8]
is greater and compresses the atmospheric
structure into more flattened shell with respect
to the lower latitudes. The study and the 3.1 BEXUS 10 Flight Campaign
characterization of the atmospheric environment
is a crucial topic also for the past and future
Solar System missions. The great interest of the The balloon was launched at 1:07 UT the 9th
Space Agencies towards Mars, with missions as of October, 2010 from the Esrange Space
the Mars Exploration Rover Mission [4], and Center in Sweden.
Titan, with the Huygens Probe [5], together with
investigations by stratospheric balloons and
sounding rockets have led to achieve key
technologies and experience for the design of
future missions as Curiosity [6], ExoMars [7]
and many others.

3 BEXUS 10 Balloon
As given in Fig. 1 the BEXUS 10 balloon was
essentially composed of four parts: the balloon, Fig. 2 BEXUS 10 trajectory above Sweden and
the re-entry parachute, the EBASS unit and the Finland
gondola hosting the scientific payload. The
EBASS unit was responsible for: altitude
After the launch, the balloon moved upward at a
control, flight termination, load cell controlled
mean velocity of 5 m/s reaching the top of its
emergency termination, onboard GPS and
flight (25 km) in 1 h 15 min; the telecommand
housekeeping data. The stratospheric balloon
for balloon cut-off and re-entry phase was sent
fully inflated had a volume of 12.000 m3 and
4h 30 min after the lift-off. The gondola landed
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 Atmospheric modeling by SCRAT experiment during the 2010 ESA BEXUS 10 Flight Campaign
in a forest of Finland, 515 km in the South-East
direction with respect to Esrange as displayed in
Fig. 2.
4 Sensor layout
To achieve the goal of the atmospheric study,
SCRAT was equipped with a pressure and
temperature sensor, Series 26PCDFA6D and
PT100 Series DA-082 [9] respectively,
measuring the static pressure and temperature
with a sampling rate of 100S/s. The layout of
the environmental sensors is reported in Fig. 3.
Fig. 3 Sensor layout and position in SCRAT
experiment flight model
Unfortunately the pressure sensor experienced
some problems during the flight due to the very
low temperatures. Its operating temperature
range was limited to -40°C and 85°C and it
underwent operational problems due to the low
temperatures (minimum -71°C ± 1°C) reached
during the balloon flight, giving an unreliable
pressure value for altitude greater than 7 km i.e.
temperatures lower than -40°C as reported in
Fig. 4.
Fig. 4 Pressure data retrieved by SCRAT and EBASS
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Given these considerations the pressure data
above 7 km were retrieved from the EBASS
unit sensor. Concerning the EBASS unit, it was
equipped with a pressure environmental sensor
model DRUCK PMP 4015.
5 Flight campaign results
In this part of the article are discussed in detail
the atmospheric and physical results together
with the data analysis approach adopted. The
treated topics are briefly introduced below in
Fig. 5:
Fig. 5 Data analysis overview
5.1 Pressure and temperature profiles
The pressure at the ESRANGE level (350 msl)
was 980.2 ± 4.3 mbar and the lowest pressure at
the top of the BEXUS 10 flight was 23.6 ± 4.3
mbar. The pressure profiles in ascent and
descent phases show the same exponential trend
as can be observed in Fig. 6.
Fig.6 Environmental pressure during the flight ascent
(blue), float (green) and descent (red)
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 G. Rodeghiero, L. Olivieri, A. Francesconi

The ascent and descent profiles are perfectly upon the retrieved temperature is reported in
coincident as Fig. 7 attests: the two profiles are section 5.4.
folded and a theoretical function is overlapped
to them.

Fig.8 Environmental temperature during the flight

Fig. 7 Exponential decrease of the pressure 5.2 Density estimation

reproduced by the hypsometric equation Eq. 1
The theoretical law is the hypsometric equation
(Eq. 1), and it links the pressure with the
altitude under the approximation of a stratified
atmosphere whose layers are isothermal:
The atmospheric density has been determined
by two different and uncorrelated methods: a
direct estimation via the thermodynamic laws,
and an indirect estimation through the drag
forces experimented by the system gondola-
parachute during the descent phase.

(1)

with P0 and P1 respectively the pressure at

ESRANGE level and at an higher sample level,
z0 and z1 their altitudes and the constant H,
defined as scale height. The constant H contains
many terms including temperature. Estimating
the constant value for each layer and calculating
the hypsometric equation we obtain the plot in
Fig.9 Direct density estimation for ascent and descent
Fig. 7. The correlation between the theoretical phase
and empirical data is satisfactory and the
pressure profiles are perfectly reproduced by the The direct density estimation can be derived by
hypsometric equation (colourful line Fig. 7). It the measurement of the temperature and the
has to be noted that for altitudes greater than 10 pressure using Eq. 2 whenever the mean
km there is a unique scale height, which fits the molecular weight M of the gaseous mixture is
observed pressure for about 15 km, this is due to known:
the fact that the low and middle stratosphere is a
quasi-isothermal layer.
The temperature experimented by SCRAT (2)
during its flight is reported in Fig. 8; the
spectrum is wide and spans between 4.5°C at In the case of the air M = 28.966 kg/kmol, P is
the ground level down to -71°C at the top of the the pressure, T the temperature and R = 8.314 ×
BEXUS 10 trajectory. A deeper investigation 103Nm/kmolK the gas constant. The ascent and

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 Atmospheric modeling by SCRAT experiment during the 2010 ESA BEXUS 10 Flight Campaign

descent profiles are plotted in Fig. 9 attesting a

good accordance. The density estimation by the
drag forces is based on the empirical evidence
that any falling object into the atmosphere
experiences a net drag force opposite to its
motion as reported in Eq. 3:
(3)

Being CD the drag coefficient (shape-

dependent), A the area of the object, v its
velocity and ρ the density of the air (the
dragging element). For the present purpose the
drag coefficient CD and the area A refer to the
parachute deployed after the cut-off phase,
while the velocity is retrieved by the GPS
receiver onboard the EBASS unit. Subsequently
the cut-off phase the system gondola-parachute,
after an initial acceleration, reached quickly a
constant velocity denoted as terminal velocity
and lower than 10 m/s (see Fig. 10), that is
established when the weight (Fg) of the system
is balanced by the surrounding drag force
(Fg = Fdrag).
Fig.11 Comparison between direct and indirect
density estimation
5.3 Atmospheric lapse rate
By the measurement of the temperature at
different altitudes a new parameter can be
measured and characterized: the atmospheric
lapse rate, i.e. the rate of cooling of the
atmosphere with the height. Usually the
temperature decreases linearly with the altitude
at a mean rate of about
Γ = -6.5°C/km as we depart from the Earth
ground because the infrared emission of the soil
decreases. The lapse rate provides also
interesting information about the water vapour
content of the atmospheric mixture.

Fig.10 Altitude and velocity of the balloon during

descent phase

Once the terminal velocity is reached, Eq. 3 can
be reversed to derive the air density. This
approach, even if it is affected by a larger
uncertainty (see Fig. 11), is particularly
effective whenever we have to deal with a
planetary atmosphere whose composition is
partially or totally unknown.
Fig.12 Lapse rate retrieved by SCRAT experiment
The estimation of the lapse rate during BEXUS
10 flight has carried to the result reported in Fig.
12 with a mean value Γ = -6.2 ± 2°C/km. The
explanation of this atmospheric cooling deals
with the mechanism of heat transportation
inside the Earth atmosphere. Being evident the
presence of large convective motions in our

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 G. Rodeghiero, L. Olivieri, A. Francesconi

atmosphere a dry adiabatic lapse rate can be
introduced as described by Eq. 4 [10].
(4)
With g gravity acceleration and CP specific heat
at constant pressure. The result of Eq. 4 is
however in contrast with the SCRAT
measurement (Γ = -6.2 ± 2°C/km). There must
be some other factor that controls the
atmospheric lapse rate limiting the decrease of
the temperature with the height. The solution
has to be searched in a new formulation of Eq. 4
by the introduction of the so called saturation
adiabatic lapse rate given in Eq. 5 [10].
and releasing a certain quantity of energy called
condensation heat L. The value retrieved by
SCRAT is well described by the saturation
adiabatic lapse rate and perfectly enclosed in the
interval values of Eq. 5. In Fig. 13 and 14 have
been simulated the saturation adiabatic lapse
rates for two different kinds of ground surfaces:
water and ice. Comparing these results with
those retrieved by SCRAT it can be noted that
the flight data represent an intermediary
scenario.

(5)

where ws is the mass of saturated water vapor

per mass of air and L is the latent heat of
condensation in kJ/kg that is a polynomial
expression of the environmental temperature.
The saturation adiabatic lapse rate Γwet takes
into account the condensation heat of water
vapor in the energy balance of the air parcel
under investigation. The presence of a certain
quantity of water vapor, that has a high heat of
condensation, makes rising Γwet at values
between -4 and -6.5 °C/km.
Fig.14 Simulated saturation adiabatic lapse rate over
an icy surface
The term ws in Eq. 5 can be written as follows
[10]:
(6)
with P environmental pressure and es saturation
water vapor pressure. The values of es obey to
the Goff-Gratch model and are tabulated in
literature. By the assumption of this model and
the measurement of the pressure the mixing
ratio of the atmospheric water vapor can be
estimated as given in Fig. 15.

Fig.13 Simulated saturation adiabatic lapse rate over a

water surface
In fact a wet air parcel that is rising the
atmosphere by convection undergoes a cooling
process that makes the water vapor condensing
Fig.15 Mixing ratio of water vapor in Troposphere
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 Atmospheric modeling by SCRAT experiment during the 2010 ESA BEXUS 10 Flight Campaign
5.4 Balloon attitude determination
This last section deals with the analysis of the
diurnal effects on the stratospheric temperature
during the BEXUS 10 flight. As above
mentioned, the balloon was launched at 1:07 UT
during the night, and it flew for five hours until
6:07 UT early in the morning.
Fig.16 Temperature spectrum during the flight. Dawn
time (red line)
The Sun raised at 4:17 UT and the last segment
of the floating phase was during the daytime
leading to an interesting correlation of the
balloon’s dynamics and the retrieved
environmental temperature. As can be observed
in Fig. 16 there are many oscillations in the
temperature spectrum after the dawn (red line).
These oscillations are thought to be originated
by the rotation of the balloon with respect to the
Sun. Evidences of the rotating behaviour of the
stratospheric balloons have been figured out in
many other stratospheric flights as reported by
NASA [11] and H H Wang et al. [12] and it is
thought that the rotation of stratospheric
balloons is due to the convective motions of the
Helium masses enclosed in the balloon heated
up by the Sun. The intent of this section is to
partially infer the attitude of the balloon by the
use of the temperature sensor as a Sun sensor.
To achieve useful information about the attitude
of the balloon during the diurnal segment of the
flight we need the data from the GPS receiver,
model Rockwell Jupiter, the temperature
oscillations recorded by the temperature sensor
and the AGI’s software Satellite Tool Kit, stk
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[13], to create a virtual reference mission as
close as possible to the real BEXUS10 flight.
First of all, to verify the interpretation of the
temperature oscillations a thermal model
accounting for the radiation heat transfer
between the main bodies has been implemented.
Fig.17 Picture of the bodies involved in the thermal
model transferring heat by radiation and convection
At a first instance only radiation and a weak
contribution of ozonospheric convection have
been considered; conduction has been neglected
since the bodies aren’t in direct contact
preventing any conduction heat transfer. Each
body exchanges simultaneously heat with all the
others by radiation as reported in Fig, 17. So for
.
example the term Q pt (t) in Eq. 7 represents the
total amount of energy exchanged by the
temperature sensor (pt) with all the surrounding
bodies:
€
(7)
balloon (Bl), Sun ( ), ozonosphere (O3), Earth
(⊕) and sky (sky). The temporal window
considered for the simulation goes from the
dawn until the cut-off phase beyond that the
motion of the gondola is too irregular to
recognize regular rotations. Of all the heat
transfer terms in Eq. 7 the most peculiar is the
Q (t) term, (Eq. 8) that represents the heat
coming from the Sun. It is modulated by a sine
function with variable period to reproduce the
oscillations observed in the temperature
spectrum.
(8)
449

with Apt representing the portion of the
temperature sensor area receiving a solar flux
equal to C ≈1366W/m2 and weighted by the
periodic function and the absorption coefficient
αS of the incident solar radiation.
Fig.18 Retrieved and simulated temperature spectrum
from the dawn onwards
The result of this thermal model is quite
surprising as Fig. 18 shows. The fundamental
harmonic of the temperature spectrum is well
reproduced by the model (black line) and about
15 oscillations induced by many balloon
rotations are fairly simulated.
All the simulated temperature maxima are
interpreted as a direct heat radiation transfer
between the temperature sensor and the Sun,
one facing the other, while the minima as an
eclipse of the temperature sensor that enters the
cone of shadow of the balloon. To have a cross
correlated interpretation of these data a
simulated mission scenario has been created
using stk software. The trajectory of BEXUS 10
has been reconstructed based on the GPS
coordinates retrieved during the flight. The
access to the Sun of BEXUS 10 (the visibility
between the two objects) has been computed
based on the precise stk Sun ephemeris and the
GPS data. A first important result is the exact
time of the dawn at the stratosphere level (4:17
UT) as reported above. From the dawn onwards
all the temperature oscillations with an
amplitude equal or greater than ΔT=10 °C have
been imputed to the balloon’s rotation. Then the
temperature sensor has been reproduced by a
geometrical conic sensor attached to the
balloon’s body. The sensor is defined by the
cone amplitude (see Fig. 19) that establishes the
field of view, fov, of the object; many
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G. Rodeghiero, L. Olivieri, A. Francesconi
simulations have been done tuning the fov to the
final value of 180°. The basic idea behind this
simulation is trying to reproduce the
temperature oscillations as the consequence of
sunlight-to-eclipse cycle of the temperature
sensor driven by the balloon rotational motion.
Fig.19 Conic sensor (yellow) with fov = 180° attached
to the balloon (grey aircraft)
In this perspective the fov of the sensor should
contain the Sun for about half the period of
rotation making rise the temperature at a
maximum; then as the Sun exits the fov because
the sensor enters the cone of shadow of the
balloon the sensor radiates to the other bodies
and cools causing a minimum in the temperature
spectrum.
The last step of the stk scenario consists on the
balloon attitude setting and determination based
on the rotations discovered in the study of the
environmental temperature. For the present
purpose a NordEastDown reference frame, NED
r.f., has been assumed for the balloon flight. The
NED r.f. has the X–axis is directed to North, the
Y–axis to East and the Z-axis points toward the
Earth’s surface, aligned with the instantaneous
normal to the Earth’s surface along the gravity
field direction (see Fig. 20). In this manner the
balloon’s attitude configuration during the
ascent and floating phase is that of an object
with the Z–axis constantly aligned with normal
to the surface. The balloon’s attitude has to be
set with respect to an external r.f. by defining
the yaw–pitch–roll angles. The effects of the
rotations on the NED r.f. have been studied
using a Earth Centered Fixed, ECF, r.f.. This
terrestrial r.f. rotating with the Earth has its
origin at the centre of the Earth itself, the Z–axis
passing through the North pole, the X–axis
passing through the equator at the prime
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 Atmospheric modeling by SCRAT experiment during the 2010 ESA BEXUS 10 Flight Campaign
meridian and the Y–axis, determined by the
right-hand rule, crossing the equator at 90◦
longitude.
Fig.20 NED r.f. (azure arrows) in comparison to
Topocentric r.f. (yellow arrows)
For the night flight segment the balloon’s
attitude has been considered completely frozen
into the ECF r.f. since there are no information
in absence of the Sun. From the dawn onwards,
a rotational degree of freedom has been given
to the system and in proximity of each
temperature oscillation a complete rotation of
the NED r.f. has been inserted in the attitude
determination file. The rotation has been
supposed around the Z-axis of the NED r.f. and
simulated by a complete rotation of the yaw
angle. In this scenario the access duration is
assumed to be half the rotation period since the
temperature sensor has a fov that covers 2π str,
half of the entire solid angle. The interval of
access between the Sun and the sensor have
been retrieved and doubled by stk and compared
with the periods obtained by the thermal model
discussed above.
Fig.21 Temperature spectra and Sun accesses
retrieved by stk software for a 180° fov sensor
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In Fig. 21, overlapped to the retrieved and
simulated spectra, there are (bottom Fig. 21) the
intervals of access obtained with stk.
As a by product it is possible to estimate also
the rotational speed of the balloon on the basis
of the thermal model, of stk and also from the
Fourier analysis of the temperature spectrum.
The results, which attest slow rates of rotation,
are collected in Table 1 and in good agreement
with those experimented by NASA [10].
Thermal model ν = 0.34 ± 0.06 rpm*
stk ν = 0.32 ± 0.07 rpm
Fourier analysis ν = 0.41 ± 0.08 rpm
Table 1 Balloon rotational speed (* rates per minute)
6 Conclusion
The modelling of the temperature and pressure
data retrieved during BEXUS 10 flight by
SCRAT experiment has led to a wide range of
applications and atmospheric analyses. The
atmospheric density together with the lapse rate
and water vapour content has been determined.
Moreover the study of the stratospheric
temperature oscillations has led to achieve many
interesting information about the dynamics and
the attitude of the balloon during the daily
segment of the floating phase.
Acknowledgments
Authors are grateful to the REXUS/BEXUS
Team for the great support during the whole
Programme and to the ESRANGE staff for the
precious collaboration during the entire flight
campaign. Authors want also to thank GMS
SPAZIO srl for having provided a free license
for the stk software.
References
Proceedings references
[1] http://www.rexusbexus.net/
[2] http://www.cnrm.meteo.fr/concordiasi/
[3]http://www.insu.cnrs.fr/co/actions-sur-
projets/pnca-programme-national-de-chimie-
atmospherique
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 G. Rodeghiero, L. Olivieri, A. Francesconi

[4] http://marsrover.nasa.gov/home/

[5] http://www.esa.int/esaMI/Cassini-Huygens/

[6] http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/

[7] http://exploration.esa.int/

[8] BX–BEXUS–user–manual–v6–0–20Dec09

[9] http://it.rs-online.com

[10] ‘Theory of Planetary Atmospheres’, J. W,

Chamerlain and D. M. Hunten, Academic Press Inc,
1987

[11] NATIONAL SCIENTIFIC BALLOON FACILITY

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR GONDOLA
DESIGN APRIL 1, 1986
http://www.nsbf.nasa.gov

[12] “Analysis of the Motion Control Methods for

Stratospheric Balloon-Borne Gondola Platform” H
H Wang et al., Journal of Physics: Conference Series
48 (2006) 1295–1300

[13] http://www.agi.com

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