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This work has been supported by Grant PID2021-125325OB-C53 funded by MCIN/AEI, Spain/10.13039/501100011033 and, as appropriate, by "ERDF A way of making Europe" and project 478 Y2020/NMT-6427 OAPES from the programme "Sinergicos 2020" from Comunidad de Madrid (Spain). The authors want to thank all the students, professors, and staff from Universidad Politecnica de Madrid involved in the project and the IDR/UPM, STRAST and ETSIAE for their institutional support.The authors want to acknowledge the REXUS/BEXUS programme, the German Aerospace Center, the Swedish National Space Agency and all the programme partners: the European Space Agency, EuroLaunch, the Swedish Space Corporation and the Mobile Rocket Base. Particularly, authors want to acknowledge the mentorship of Koen De Beule from ESA, the advices of Armelle Frenea-Schmidt from SSC, the work Simon Mawn as the BEXUS 32 payload manager, and all the personnel from Esrange Space Center involved in this launch campaign.

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Perez Alvarez, JavierAuthorPerez Grande, M. IsabelAuthorAlvarez Romero, Jose MiguelAuthorGonzalez-Barcena, DavidCorresponding AuthorBoado-Cuartero, BlancaAuthorPérez-Muñoz, ángel-GroverAuthorFernández-Soler, AlejandroAuthorRedondo, Juan ManuelAuthorPorras-Hermoso, AngelAuthorBarba-Navarrete, PedroAuthorArroyo-Ruiz, CarlosAuthorBermejo-Ballesteros, JuanAuthorAlfonso-Corcuera, DanielAuthorSoto-Aranaz, ManúAuthorPeinado, LilianAuthorDel-Río-Velilla, DanielAuthorPedraza, AndrésAuthorMarín-Coca, SergioAuthorGarcia-Romero, RafaelAuthorZamorano, JuanAuthorMalo, JavierAuthorTorralbo, IgnacioAuthorPiqueras, JavierAuthorGarcia-Perez, AndresAuthorRoibas-Millan, ElenaAuthorGamazo-Real, Jose -CarlosAuthorPindado, SantiagoAuthorSanz-Andres, AngelAuthor

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June 18, 2024
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Article
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HERCCULES: A university balloon-borne experiment for BEXUS 32 to characterize the thermal environment in the stratosphere using COTS

Publicated to:Acta Astronautica. 220 305-320 - 2024-07-01 220(), DOI: 10.1016/j.actaastro.2024.04.034

Authors: Gonzalez-Barcena, David; Boado-Cuartero, Blanca; Perez-Munoz, angel-Grover; Fernandez-Soler, Alejandro; Redondo, Juan Manuel; Porras-Hermoso, Angel; Barba-Navarrete, Pedro; Arroyo-Ruiz, Carlos; Alvarez, Jose Miguel; Bermejo-Ballesteros, Juan; Alfonso-Corcuera, Daniel; Merchan-Bravo, Marina; Gomez-Navajas, Carlos; Muela-Marquez, Siro; Martinez-Figueira, Noelia; Benito, Alba; Pena-Capalvo, Adrian; Dorado-Melara, Pablo; Moran-Fernandez, Alvaro; Garrido-Sola, Javier; Montes-Pineda, Pablo; Soto-Aranaz, Manu; Peinado, Lilian; del-Rio-Velilla, Daniel; Pedraza, Andres; Marin-Coca, Sergio; Garcia-Romero, Rafael; Perez-Grande, Isabel; Zamorano, Juan; Malo, Javier; Torralbo, Ignacio; Piqueras, Javier; Garcia-Perez, Andres; Perez-Alvarez, Javier; Roibas-Millan, Elena; Gamazo-Real, Jose -Carlos; Pindado, Santiago; Sanz-Andres, Angel

Affiliations

Univ Politecn Madrid, Dept Ingn Telemat & Elect, ETSIS Telecomunicac, C Nikola Tesla, Madrid 28031, Spain - Author
Univ Politecn Madrid, Inst Univ Microgravedad Ignacio Riva, Plaza Cardenal Cisneros 3, Madrid 28040, Spain - Author
Univ Politecn Madrid, Sistemas Tiempo Real & Arquitectura Serv Telemat, ETSI Telecomunicac, Ave Complutense30, Madrid 28040, Spain - Author

Abstract

The thermal analysis of stratospheric balloon payloads is still a complex task due to the variable thermal environment during the flight phases as well as due to the convective effects during the ascent. An experiment named HERCCULES has been successfully launched from Esrange Space Centre (Kiruna, Sweden) in September 2023 as part of the REXUS/BEXUS programme. This experiment aimed of serving as a heat transfer and thermal environment characterization platform that allow to validate previously developed methodologies for the worstcase thermal environmental conditions' selection and the thermal analysis of these platforms. The experiment has been developed in an academic environment and the design, manufacturing, integration and test activities were mainly performed by Bachelor, Master and Ph.D. students with the mentorship of the European Space Agency. A low-cost design was achieved by using Commercial Off -the -Shelf (COTS) without compromising its performance capabilities. The obtained measurements show a colder behavior of the external elements with regard to the worst -case analysis during the first part of the ascent phase. In addition, radiative fluxes measured during the flight show a deviation in the infrared downward flux of about - 50 W m -2 at 5 km of altitude and a maximum fluctuation of about the 20% in the solar fluxes measurements. Significant advancements have been made for similar missions in terms of mechanical standardization, the use of COTS sensors and electronic components, the improvement of the reliability of the thermal analysis and the development of a software design adhered to standards and recommendations for critical systems.

Keywords

Ascent phasBalloon payloadBalloon-borne experimentBexusCommercial off the shelvesCommercial off-the shelvesCommercial-off-the-shelfComplex taskConvective heat-transferCostsCotsHeat transfeHeat transferProject based learningProject-based learningReliability analysisSoftware designSoftware reliabilityStratospheric balloonThermal environmentThermoanalysis

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Bibliometric impact. Analysis of the contribution and dissemination channel

The work has been published in the journal Acta Astronautica due to its progression and the good impact it has achieved in recent years, according to the agency WoS (JCR), it has become a reference in its field. In the year of publication of the work, 2024 there are still no calculated indicators, but in 2023, it was in position 10/55, thus managing to position itself as a Q1 (Primer Cuartil), in the category Engineering, Aerospace.

Independientemente del impacto esperado determinado por el canal de difusión, es importante destacar el impacto real observado de la propia aportación.

Según las diferentes agencias de indexación, el número de citas acumuladas por esta publicación hasta la fecha 2025-09-21:

  • Google Scholar: 1
  • Scopus: 1

Impact and social visibility

From the perspective of influence or social adoption, and based on metrics associated with mentions and interactions provided by agencies specializing in calculating the so-called "Alternative or Social Metrics," we can highlight as of 2025-09-21:

  • The use of this contribution in bookmarks, code forks, additions to favorite lists for recurrent reading, as well as general views, indicates that someone is using the publication as a basis for their current work. This may be a notable indicator of future more formal and academic citations. This claim is supported by the result of the "Capture" indicator, which yields a total of: 9 (PlumX).

It is essential to present evidence supporting full alignment with institutional principles and guidelines on Open Science and the Conservation and Dissemination of Intellectual Heritage. A clear example of this is:

  • The work has been submitted to a journal whose editorial policy allows open Open Access publication.
  • Assignment of a Handle/URN as an identifier within the deposit in the Institutional Repository: https://oa.upm.es/86691/

As a result of the publication of the work in the institutional repository, statistical usage data has been obtained that reflects its impact. In terms of dissemination, we can state that, as of

  • Views: 220
  • Downloads: 43

Leadership analysis of institutional authors

There is a significant leadership presence as some of the institution’s authors appear as the first or last signer, detailed as follows: First Author (GONZALEZ BARCENA, DAVID) and Last Author (SANZ ANDRES, ANGEL PEDRO).

the author responsible for correspondence tasks has been GONZALEZ BARCENA, DAVID.