The StratoSonde® system is a new upper air observation system, combining a long endurance balloon system with a new micro-dropsonde and dispensing system, to provide observations at low-cost from remote regions. The StratoSonde® balloon has total weight less than 6lb and provides multi-day endurance in the stratosphere, navigating by selecting different wind layers to drift towards remote regions of interest. Each system supports up to 10 micro-dropsondes, each weighing ~ ½ Oz. Once dispensed the dropsondes take approximately 20-minutes to descend to sea-level, measuring Temperature, Pressure, Relative Humidity, Wind speed and Wind Direction in high vertical resolution all the way from stratosphere to sea-level. Data is transmitted to the dispensing balloon, which disseminates this in near-real-time via SATCOM. The StratoSonde system is being operated out of the Cabo Verde islands, off the west coast of Africa, to support Tropical Cyclone research topics including Potential Intensity and the significance of outflow layer and steering wind ensemble forecasting, on forecasting tropical cyclone intensity and structure.
The StratoSonde® balloon system is exceptionally low-cost. The cost of each data set is less than the operating cost of standard radiosonde balloon launches. The StratoSonde® balloon delivers high density of data coverage over large remote regions at ultra-low cost.
For targeted observations, the StratoSolutions Inc micro-dropsonde system can be implemented in an aerodynamic tubular housing for installation on other un-crewed air systems and drones. Each housing is self-contained, including dispensing system, UHF receiver and SATCOM data link, and weighs 1kg while full of 32 dropsondes. Under development is the StratoSat-25® solar electric stratospheric, long endurance aircraft, being designed to support two dispensing pods and offering 64 targeted observations per mission. The StratoSat-25® has over 2-months endurance and is being designed to operate as part of a constellation to provide synchronous targeted observations over specific meteorological features of interest. The current generation of fixed-wing solar electric "high-altitude-pseudo-satellites" (HAPS), such as the Airbus AALTO Zephyr system, have extremely restricted launch and recovery operating envelopes. They are too vulnerable to gusts and turbulence to support missions requiring regular and routine recovery to “restock” dispensable payloads. The StratoSat-25® overcomes this challenge through a new proprietary innovation called “Gust Alleviation” technology, which permits great expansion of the operating envelope with enhanced resilience to gusts and turbulence, and critically, without penalising stratospheric performance. This is a key enabling technology which will allow this type of aircraft to provide commercial services year-round from the Stratosphere.
The StratoSat-25® is perhaps the smallest viable stratospheric HAPS, able to operate for months at a time while supporting a useful payload capacity. With a total all-up-mass which is less than 25kg (55lb), the StratoSat-25® faces low operating costs, low regulatory barriers, and wide operating envelope to deliver a dynamic and rapidly reactive, targeted meteorological observation capability, which can provide persistent and high density of targeted observations over remote areas for months at a time.
Commercial Status Summary: The StratoSonde® balloon system is semi-operational and supporting NOAA and USAF operational demonstrations and research projects, while the StratoSat-25® HAPS prototype is demonstrating the key enabling technology “Gust Alleviation”. The business model for commercialisation of the products is to operate these capabilities under a data service provision model; customers and data end user organisations do not need to own air platforms, instead they subscribe to a Contractor Owned and Contractor Operated (COCO) meteorological data provision service, to minimise their capital costs and through life operating costs.
The presentation “Dropsondes from the Stratosphere” will review the tropical cyclone observation challenges and solution opportunities offered by new stratospheric technological innovations, discussing in detail the emerging capabilities offered by low-cost long endurance stratospheric platforms and present results from current Tropical Cyclone research missions, future use cases and enhancements to the stratospheric micro-dropsonde system, to target new emerging requirements.
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