Development of a New Super-Pressure Balloon with a Net for High-Altitude and Long-Duration Flights

抄録

Typically, it is important for high-altitude balloons for scientific observations to fly for a long-duration to obtain sufficient data. A super pressure balloon facilitates long-duration flight by using many ropes between the poles of the balloon to decrease the local curvature radius of the balloon film and thereby increasing the pressure capacity. However, the increase in the number of the ropes also increases the fabrication cost of the balloon. Hence, this study proposed a method in which a balloon was covered with a diamond-shaped net. The development of the new super-pressure balloon commenced in 2010 with ground inflation tests, numerical simulations, and flight demonstrations in which the size of the balloon was gradually enlarged. The goal of the study included flying a 1,000 kg payload at an altitude exceeding 37 km for a period of several months by using a 300,000 m³ balloon. Thus, this study introduces the development of a new super-pressure balloon.