FIREBall-2 2023: flight communications performance

Greyson Davis; Keri Hoadley; Jared Termini; Fernando Cruz Aguirre; Philippe Balard; Nicolas Bray; Ignacio Cevallos-Aleman; Erika Hamden; Gillian Kyne; Zeren Lin; D. Christopher Martin; Drew Miles; Bruno Millard; Shouleh Nikzad; Vincent Picouet; David Schiminovich; Meghna Sitaram; David Valls-Gabaud

doi:10.1117/12.3019120

Conference proceeding

FIREBall-2 2023: flight communications performance

Greyson Davis, Keri Hoadley, Jared Termini, Fernando Cruz Aguirre, Philippe Balard, Nicolas Bray, Ignacio Cevallos-Aleman, Erika Hamden, Gillian Kyne, Zeren Lin, …

Vol.13093, pp.130932S-130932S-10

08/21/2024

DOI: 10.1117/12.3019120

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Abstract

The balloon-borne UV telescope Faint Intergalactic Red-shifted Emission Balloon (FIREBall-2) was launched from Fort Sumner, NM on September 25, 2023, for its second attempted flight. The flight was unexpectedly terminated at 10 hours due to a mechanical issue, and no science data was obtained; however, this short flight provided an excellent opportunity to test the in-flight communications system. Testing the communication system pre-flight was challenging, and an accurate simulation of signal reception and communication errors expected during flight was not possible. From launch to landing, only a single packet was dropped. Had the flight continued for the expected duration, the success up to early termination gives confidence that the communications systems would have continued to meet our expectations. While this test was highly successful, some areas for improvement were identified and will be addressed before FIREBall-2’s next flight.

telecommunications

uplink

downlink

commanding

data

telemetry

encoding

decoding

Details

Title: Subtitle: FIREBall-2 2023: flight communications performance
Creators: Greyson Davis - University of Iowa, Physics and Astronomy
Keri Hoadley - University of Iowa
Jared Termini - The Univ. of Iowa (United States)
Fernando Cruz Aguirre - University of Iowa
Philippe Balard - Aix Marseille Univ., CNRS, CNES, Lab. d'Astrophysique de Marseille (France)
Nicolas Bray - Ctr. National d'Études Spatiales (France)
Ignacio Cevallos-Aleman - Columbia University
Erika Hamden - University of Arizona
Gillian Kyne - Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Zeren Lin - California Institute of Technology, Cahill Ctr. for Astrophysics (United States)
D. Christopher Martin - California Institute of Technology, Cahill Ctr. for Astrophysics (United States)
Drew Miles - California Institute of Technology, Cahill Ctr. for Astrophysics (United States)
Bruno Millard - Aix Marseille Univ., CNRS, CNES, Lab. d'Astrophysique de Marseille (France)
Shouleh Nikzad - Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Vincent Picouet - California Institute of Technology, Cahill Ctr. for Astrophysics (United States)
David Schiminovich - Columbia University
Meghna Sitaram - Columbia University
David Valls-Gabaud - Observatoire de Paris
Contributors: Jan-Willem A. den Herder (Editor) - SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research
Shouleh Nikzad (Editor) - Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Kazuhiro Nakazawa (Editor) - Nagoya University
Resource Type: Conference proceeding
Publication Details: Vol.13093, pp.130932S-130932S-10
Publisher: SPIE
DOI: 10.1117/12.3019120
ISSN: 0277-786X
eISSN: 1996-756X
Grant note: NASA: 80NSSC22K1649 Centre National d'Etudes Spatialescommunity of Fort Sumner, NM
FIREBall-2 is supported by NASA under Award No. 80NSSC22K1649. The FIREBall gondola and associated engineering team are supported by the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales. Thank you to the indigenous people of New Mexico for use of their land, and the community of Fort Sumner, NM, for the accommodations during field campaigns.
Language: English
Date published: 08/21/2024
Academic Unit: Physics and Astronomy
Record Identifier: 9984721239802771

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