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Station-keeping of a high-altitude balloon with...
Journal article

Station-keeping of a high-altitude balloon with electric propulsion and wireless power transmission: A concept study

Abstract

A stable, ultra long-duration high-altitude balloon (HAB) platform which can maintain stationary position would represent a new paradigm for telecommunications and high-altitude observation and transmission services, with greatly reduced cost and complexity compared to existing technologies including satellites, telecom towers, and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). This contribution proposes a lightweight superpressure balloon platform for deployment to an altitude of 25km. Electrohydrodynamic (EHD) thrusters are presented to maintain position by overcoming stratospheric winds. Critical to maintaining position is a continual supply of electrical power to operate the on-board propulsion system. One viable solution is to deliver power wirelessly to a high-altitude craft from a ground-based transmitter. Microwave energy, not heavily attenuated by the atmosphere, can be provided remotely from a ground-based generator (magnetron, klystron, etc.) and steered electrically with an antenna array (phased array) at a designated frequency (such as 2.45 or 5.8GHz). A rectifying antenna (“rectenna”) on the bottom of the balloon converts waves into direct current for on-board use. Preliminary mission architecture, energy requirements, and safety concerns for a proposed system are presented along with recommended future work.

Authors

van Wynsberghe E; Turak A

Journal

Acta Astronautica, Vol. 128, , pp. 616–627

Publisher

Elsevier

Publication Date

November 1, 2016

DOI

10.1016/j.actaastro.2016.08.017

ISSN

0094-5765

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