Possible Sciences with weather balloons
1. Experiment to measure the concentrations of Ozone , Carbon di-oxide and
other constituents and aerosol etc. and quantify the changes in chemical
balance over place and time.
2. Effect of green house effect, man made propellers etc. on the vertical
profile of environmental properties like Temperature and pressure etc. and on
the abundance of the chemical species like ozone, CO2 etc.
3. Study the atmospheric plasma flow and magnetic field and interaction of them
with Cosmic wind
4. Effect of Solar activity on atmosphere, on geomagnetic field, Ionization at
different Heights. Etc.
5. VLF amplitude measurements at different height for ionospheric studies
6. Study the cloud distribution, study the effect of Industry in air pollution in
different industrial area.
And more.....................................
Nation wide balloon
experiment
Nation wide experiment with
recoverable weather balloons
will allow us scientific studies on
Atmosphere and astronomy
Throughout the year.
Simultaneous studies like
1. Effect of astronomical events
(like solar flare or solar wind) on
atmosphere
2. Measurements of chemical
abundances in atmosphere all over
the country etc.
can be done with balloons for which
recovery is not important
Possible places for weather balloon experiments
with suitable time span
LAB FACILITIES FOR BALLOON and VLF EXPERIMENT
PCB designing CNC machine
SMD Workstation
Climate Chamber
1 GHz spectrum analyzer
Drill Machine
100 MHz DSO with 2 KV High Voltage source
for the experimental setup of Giger Counter
GPS Communication System
GPS Antenna
Walky- Talky
GPS Trans receiver circuit
Typical profile of the ascent and descent
of a balloon. In this Dignity-20 mission the
burst happened at 36km. The ascent took
about 150 minutes and the descent took
about 50 minutes
Payload for communication
system
Typical trajectory of a balloon between lift-off and landing. Here Dignity-20 mission
trajectory is shown on a Google map and Google earth from the GPS data.
Si-PIN and CdTe Photo Diode detector and results
Fig. : Si-PIN photo diode for Balloon mission (left) and its analog for geant4
simulation (right).
Calibration with Eu152 (left) and Ba133 (right)
The spectrum of an X type solar flare as seen by a Si-PIN detector (left) and cdTe
detector(below) at various heights.
Energy Spectrum
of Am-241
Energy Channel calibration for the Sphinx
payload presented
Energy Spectrum
of Am-241
GM & MUON detector and results
D10 Payload
Cosmic ray counts as a function of time between launching and landing of the
payload (left). Generally the same profile is seen while rising and falling after the
balloon burst. When converted to height the average data is shown on the right. At
~ 15km, the count rate is highest as most of the secondary cosmic rays are
generated there. At a higher altitude the count is lower, since the air is thin.
Muon Detector
Raw data showing distribution of
Muon count rate in D17 mission
D22 Payload
The payload box
containing the GM and
Muon counters in the
balloon in D16
GM Tube
D16 Muon Data
D12 Payload
BICRON PMT (2” Dia) detector and results
D28Cosmic ray counts (per minute) in the
PMT with time (in min). The red curvs
gives the count below 1000 channel. The
curve is the total count, and the blue one
is the subtracted count rate
D27 Cosmic ray counts (per
minute) in the PMT varying with
height in km. The red curvs gives
the count below 1000 channel.
The curve is the total count, and
the blue one is the subtracted
count rate
Hamamatsu PMT (1” x 1”)detector and results
Complete Payload setup
Resolution Vs. Energy Calibration
Cosmic ray counts (per minute) in the
PMT with time (in min). The red curvs
gives the count below 1000 channel.
The curve is the total count, and the
blue one is the subtracted count rate
D23 Payload
Spectrum of Ba-133
Payload setup using
Arm-9 processor
Spectrum of Am-141
Navigation Unit
IMU unit
IMU Block for data acquisition
Variation of D17 tilt angle w.r.t.
zenith from accelerometer
Angular velocity of D17
With time obtained
From gyroscope
Azimuthal variation of orientation
of D30 obtained from magnetometer
D27 coverage in galactic
coordinate
D30 height vs Pressure
The nature of the tilt of the payload
and the angular velocity as a function
of height in the D-20 mission. Clearly,
the pointing accuracy is higher beyond
an altitude of 25km.
D30 height vs temperature
D26 gyro data with sun position
D21 payload with navigation unit
SUN SENSOR
Study of Dual Balloon dynamics
D23
D28
D26
D29
D27
D30
D9 Payload
D4 Payload
D10 Payload
D2 Payload
VLF MICRO ANTENNA
D6 Payload after Recover
D31 Payload
D18
Ejection System
D11 Payload
D3 Payload
FUTURE PAYLOADS
MINT HARSHAW 3” X 3”
PMT
CsI Scntillator
MINT BICRON 3” X
3” PMT
CO sensor
Proportional Counter
PMT
MAJOR BALLOON EXPERIMENTS PERFOMED
Dignity XI : Cosmic ray study with Si PIN detector onboard a weather balloon.
On 12-03-2011
Dignity XII: Cosmic ray study with Geiger-M¨uller counter onboard a weather
balloon on 14-03-2011
Dignity XIII: Cosmic ray study with Geiger-M¨uller counter onboard a weather
balloon on 14-05-2011
Dignity XIV: Cosmic ray study with Geiger-M¨uller counter onboard a weather
balloon on 15-05-2011
Dignity XV: weather balloon with a meteoric dust collector on 20-10-2011
Dignity XVI: Cosmic ray study with Geiger-M¨uller and Muon counter onboard a
weather balloon on 20-10-2011
Dignity XVII: Cosmic ray study with Muon counter with a 6DOF navigation unit
onboard a weather balloon 11-11-2011
MAJOR BALLOON EXPERIMENTS PERFOMED
Dignity XVIII : Meteoric dust collector onboard a weather balloon on 20-11-2011
Dignity XIX: Cosmic ray study with Muon counter onboard a weather balloon on
21-11-2011
Dignity XX: X-ray study with BGO scintilator with Hamamatsu PMT on 22-112011
Dignity XXI: Cosmic ray study with Muon counter and 9DOF navigation unit with
Pressure and temperature sensor board onboard a weather balloon on 7-05-2012.
Dignity XXII: Cosmic ray study using Russian Geiger tube with Pressure and
temperature sensor board on 08-05-2012
Dignity XXIII: X-ray study with NaI(Ti) scintilator counter with PMT (with
collimator), Muon counter and 6DOF with Pressure and temperature sensor board
onboard a weather balloon on 09-05-2012
Dignity XXIV: X-ray study with NaI(Ti) scintilator counter with PMT (with
collimator) and 6DOF with Pressure and temperature sensor board onboard a
weather balloon on 10-05-2012
MAJOR BALLOON EXPERIMENTS PERFOMED
Dignity XXV: Cosmic ray study with Muon counter with collimator and 9DOF with
Pressure and temperature sensor boardnavigation unit onboard a weather balloon
on 12-05-2012
Dignity XXVI: X-ray study with NaI(Ti) scintilator counter with Hamamatsu PMT
(with collimator),6DOF with Pressure and temperature sensor board and SMS
system onboard a weather balloon on 23-05-2012
Dignity XXVII: X-ray study with NaI(Ti) scintilator counter, BICRON PMT,
9DOF with Pressure and temperature sensor board and SMS system onboard a
weather balloon. On 24-05-2012
Dignity XXVIII: X-ray study with NaI(Ti) scintilator counter, BICRON PMT,
9DOF with Pressure and temperature sensor board and SMS system onboard a
weather balloon. On 25-05-2012
Dignity XXIX : X-ray study with NaI(Ti) scintilator counter, BICRON PMT,
9DOF with Pressure and temperature sensor board and SMS system onboard a
weather balloon. On 04-06-2012
MAJOR BALLOON EXPERIMENTS PERFOMED
Dignity XXX: X-ray study with NaI(Ti) scintilator counter, BICRON PMT, 9DOF
with Pressure and temperature sensor board and SMS system onboard a weather
balloon. On 05-06-2012
Dignity XXXI: Study of Venus transit using Telescope and camera on 06-06-2012