Precision calibration, communication, and Earth observation using a miniature stratospheric platform

该项目正在开发一种新的平流层平台能力，在天文学、电信、地球观测、地球大气科学以及情报和国防监视等不同领域具有广泛的影响。我们正在建造一个低成本的、手动发射的微型平流层推进气球，它可以在地球表面的一个区域，在12至30公里的高度上持续停留，从上升到下降到地球之间的时间尺度长达数月。其目的是使设备的维修变得非常简单、快速和廉价，并迅速地、反复地、无限期地重新启动。这项跨学科的研究从基础物理学、天文学和航空航天工程领域汲取灵感。在强大的国际支持下，加拿大和国际合作伙伴在科学和国防相关研发方面拥有数十年开发和飞行高空飞艇的经验，我们设计，建造，飞行和回收了包含用于天文校准的单色光源的高空气球的有效载荷，以及这些光源的机载光度校准。我们利用单独控制的单色轻型激光二极管模块和led，将光定向到一个积分球。球体的光输出由精确校准的光电二极管连续监测。使用这种标准校准技术，光源的光度和辐射测量精度通常优于103的一个数量级。我们将为蜂窝和远程区域通信创建一个价格合理的枢纽；天文学和大气科学的光度和偏振校准；气溶胶和微量气体取样；监测;以及监测北极和其他地区的地面、船舶和飞机交通。该项目将为HQP和本科生提供航空航天工程、天体物理学、精密计量学、无线电通信、大气和空间科学等前沿和需求领域的培训；并提供一个定义明确，可商业化，价格合理的产品，将对加拿大和我们在世界各地的同事的科学（以及商业和国防）能力产生重大影响。我们的大气科学合作者还将使用我们的数据和技术来校准AEROCAN气溶胶监测网络，以提高气候研究中气溶胶数据的精度。除了我们对机载光源进行实时光电二极管校准所预测的0.1%水平精度的光度测量之外，该计划的长期目标还包括利用机载低温辐射计进行校准，使世界各地的天文台能够达到当时技术有限的0.01%的光度测量精度。

Objectives This program is developing a novel stratospheric platform capability with broad impact across the diverse fields of astronomy, telecommunications, Earth observation, the science of Earth's atmosphere, and surveillance for intelligence and defence.  We are constructing a low-cost, hand-launched miniature stratospheric propelled balloon which can remain persistently over a single region of Earth's surface, at altitudes of between 12 and 30 km, over timescales of up to months between its ascent from and its descent to Earth. The aim is for the device to be serviced very simply, quickly, and cheaply, and sent promptly back up again, repeatedly and indefinitely. Scientific Approach This interdisciplinary research draws from the fields of basic physics, astronomy, and aerospace engineering.  With both strong international support, and Canadian and international partners with decades of experience in developing and flying high-altitude airships for both scientific and defence-related R&D, we have designed, constructed, flown, and recovered our payloads for high-altitude balloons containing both monochromatic light sources for astronomical calibration, as well as onboard photometric calibration of these sources.  We utilize individually-controlled monochromatic lightweight laser diode modules and LEDs with light directed into an integrating sphere.  The light output from the sphere is continuously monitored by precisely-calibrated photodiodes. Using this standard calibration technique, photometric and radiometric measurement of sources regularly obtain precisions of better than an order of a part in 103. Impact We will create a highly-affordable hub for: cellular and remote-region communication; photometric and polarimetric calibration for both astronomy and atmospheric science; aerosol and trace gas sampling; surveillance; and monitoring of ground, ship, and aircraft traffic in the Arctic and elsewhere.  This program will provide training for HQP and undergraduates in cutting-edge, in-demand fields as varied as aerospace engineering, astrophysics, precision metrology, radio communication, and atmospheric and space science; and provide a well-defined, commercializable, and affordable product that will have a major impact on the scientific (as well as commercial and defence) capabilities of Canada and our colleagues around the world.  Our atmospheric science collaborators will additionally be using our data and technique for calibration of the AEROCAN aerosol monitoring network, to increase the precision of aerosol data for climate studies.  Beyond the 0.1%-level precision photometry foreseen with our real-time photodiode calibration of our onboard light sources, the much longer-term goals of the program include utilizing onboard cryogenic radiometer-based calibration, enabling observatories across the world to reach the then-technology-limited precision of 0.01% photometry.