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This work has been supported by Grant PID2021-125325OB-C53 funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501 100011033 and, as appropriate, by "ERDF A way of making Europe".The authors are also grateful to the project 478 Y2020/NMT-6427 OAPES from the program "Sinergicos 2020" from Comunidad de Madrid (Spain) .The author wish to thank ECMWF. The authors also wish to thank MORABA, DLR, SSC for the data supplied, specially to Armelle Frenea-Schmidt from SSC, and Prof. Angel Sanz-Andres for his advice and ideas.

Analysis of institutional authors

Fernández-Soler, AlejandroCorresponding AuthorGonzalez-Barcena, DavidAuthorTorralbo, IgnacioAuthorPerez-Grande, IsabelAuthor

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September 15, 2024
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Article

Stratospheric balloon dynamics predictions for robust ascent phase payload thermal analysis

Publicated to:Advances In Space Research. 74 (7): 3216-3233 - 2024-10-01 74(7), DOI: 10.1016/j.asr.2024.07.028

Authors: Fernàndez-Soler, A; González-Bárcena, D; Torralbo, I; Perez-Grande, I

Affiliations

Univ Politecn Madrid, Inst Univ Microgravedad Ignacio Da Riva IDR UPM, ETSI Aeronaut & Espacio, Plaza Cardenal Cisneros 3, Madrid 28040, Spain - Author

Abstract

Stratospheric balloons are platforms with great relevance in space missions to reach scientific observations. The payload thermal analyses of such missions are usually focused on the float phase. However, during the ascent phase, the coolest temperatures of the entire mission may be reached, mainly due to the convective cooling in the tropopause. This can be explained by the combination of relative wind speed and the harsh thermal environment. The aim of this work is to evaluate the impact of the thermal environment on the relative wind speed to determine the worst-case thermal analysis. Therefore, in order to perform a robust payload thermal during the ascent phase, the uncertainty in the thermal environment and the relative velocity must be evaluated. The former are reduced by defining the thermal environment based on real-data. The latter are reduced by evaluating the parameters involved in the ascent rate. For this purpose, a dynamic model has been developed to characterise the ascent rate and the horizontal relative velocity of the balloon- borne system. This tool has been validated with flight data from the REXUS/BEXUS programme, with the BEXUS missions launched from Esrange, Kiruna, Sweden from 2014 to 2018. The thermal analysis performed shows a temperature difference greater than 10 degrees C depending on the thermal worst-case selection. The work here presented reduces the uncertainties of the stratospheric payloads ascent phase thermal analysis. (c) 2024 COSPAR. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by-nc-nd/4.0/).

Keywords

Ascent phaseAscent rateBallooningConvectionCorrelationThermal controThermal control

Quality index

Bibliometric impact. Analysis of the contribution and dissemination channel

The work has been published in the journal Advances In Space Research 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 56/110, thus managing to position itself as a Q1 (Primer Cuartil), in the category Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences.

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 2025-07-13:

  • 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 2025-07-13:

  • 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: 3 (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/83959/

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: 86
  • Downloads: 36

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 (FERNANDEZ SOLER, ALEJANDRO JOSE) and Last Author (PEREZ GRANDE, M. ISABEL).

the author responsible for correspondence tasks has been FERNANDEZ SOLER, ALEJANDRO JOSE.