LONG DURATIONN BALLOON TECHNOLOGY

THIS PROPOSAL ADDRESSES THE DESIGN AND FABRICATION OF A LONG ENDURANCE BALLOON VEHICLE HAVING A ONE-YEAR LIFE AT 120,000 FEET. THE CONCEPT MAKES USE OF THE EXPERIENCE GAINED BY THE SCIENTIFIC COMMUNITY OVER THE PAST TWO DECADES IN FLYING SMALLER PAYLOADS FOR LONG PERIODS OF TIME. THE APPROACH TO BE TAKEN WILL RESULT IN THE DESIGN OF A SUPERPRESSURE BALLOON WITH A WELL-DEFINED BIAXIAL STRESS DISTRIBUTION WHICH WILL MAKE USE OF THE STRENGTH CAPABILITIES OF A NEW FILM THAT IS TO BE "ENGINEERED" FOR THIS APPLICATION. CONVENTIONAL TECHNIQUES WILL BE USED TO MANUFACTURE A FLEXIBLE FILM WITH THE NECESSARY ULTRAVIOLET RADIATION PROTECTION FOR THE STRENGTH ELEMENT OF THE COMPOSITE FILM. AN APPROPRIATE HEAT TRANSFER MODEL WILL BE DEVELOPED WHICH WILL PERMIT THE DIURNAL PRESSURE VARIATIONS TO BE PREDICTED WITH BETTER CONFIDENCE THAN IS CURRENT POSSIBLE. IN ORDER TO DEMONSTRATE THE FEASIBILITY OF THIS CONCEPT, SIMILITUDE ANALYSIS WILL BE USED TO DESIGN A SCALE MODEL BALLOON FOR GROUND TESTING THAT WILL DEMONSTRATE VARIOUS FEATURES OF THE BALLOON, SUCH AS FILM PERMEABILITY, FABRICATION TECHNIQUES, AND LONG DURATION CAPABILITY.