Accession Number:
ADA037540
Title:
The Flight test Aspects of the Air-Launched Balloon System (ALBS) development Program
Descriptive Note:
Instrumentation papers Jul 1975-Jul 1976
Corporate Author:
AIR FORCE GEOPHYSICS LAB HANSCOM AFB MA
Personal Author(s):
Report Date:
1976-08-25
Pagination or Media Count:
83.0
Abstract:
The Air Launched Balloon System ALBS development history is traced and the circumstances leading up to planned ALBS flight tests are described, including a report on successful tests of the cryogenic storage subsystem. The theoretical performance of a candidate parachute development system--35-ft 10. 67 m diameter ring sail drogue, 64-ft 19.51 m diameter flat circular main chute--is mathematically analyzed using a number of stated assumptions. Contingency arrangements e.g., use of ballast and their impact are discussed. Data indicate that the ALBS mid-air deployment concepts require experimental proof-of-concept testing to ensure optimum component selection. Parachute subsystem verification tests planned for the autumn of 1976 at El Centro, Calif. , are outlined along with plans for partial and complete ALBS system test drops from a carrier balloon in 1977 at White Sands Missile Range.
Descriptors:
Subject Categories:
- Lighter-than-air Aircraft
- Non-Radio Communications