The PMC Turbo Balloon Mission to Measure Gravity Waves and Turbulence in Polar Mesospheric Clouds: Camera, Telemetry, and Software Performance

Carl Bjorn Kjellstrand; Glenn Jones; Christopher Geach; Bifford P. Williams; David C. Fritts; Amber Miller; Shaul Hanany; Michele Limon; Jason Reimuller

doi:10.1029/2020EA001238

The PMC Turbo Balloon Mission to Measure Gravity Waves and Turbulence in Polar Mesospheric Clouds: Camera, Telemetry, and Software Performance

Carl Bjorn Kjellstrand, Glenn Jones, Christopher Geach, Bifford P. Williams, David C. Fritts, Amber Miller, Shaul Hanany, Michele Limon, Jason Reimuller

Physics and Astronomy (Twin Cities)

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

8 Scopus citations

Abstract

The Polar Mesospheric Cloud Turbulence (PMC Turbo) instrument consists of a balloon-borne platform which hosts seven cameras and a Rayleigh lidar. During a 6-day flight in July 2018, the cameras captured images of Polar Mesospheric Clouds (PMCs) with a sensitivity to spatial scales from ~20 m to 100 km at a ~2-s cadence and a full field of view (FOV) of hundreds of kilometers. We developed software optimized for imaging of PMCs, controlling multiple independent cameras, compressing and storing images, and for choosing telemetry communication channels. We give an overview of the PMC Turbo design focusing on the flight software and telemetry functions. We describe the performance of the system during its first flight in July 2018.

Original language	English (US)
Article number	e2020EA001238
Journal	Earth and Space Science
Volume	7
Issue number	8
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1029/2020EA001238
State	Published - Aug 1 2020

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
The PMC‐turbo mission was funded by NASA Contract 80NSSC18K0050. The development of the PyHC SkyWinder package has been funded by NASA Grant 80NSSC20K0178. This project also received funding from the German Aerospace Center (DLR) for construction, integration, and operation of the Rayleigh lidar and subsequent data analyses.

Publisher Copyright:
©2020 The Authors.

Keywords

aeronomy
balloon-borne experiments
cameras
flight control software
gravity waves
polar mesospheric clouds

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abstract = "The Polar Mesospheric Cloud Turbulence (PMC Turbo) instrument consists of a balloon-borne platform which hosts seven cameras and a Rayleigh lidar. During a 6-day flight in July 2018, the cameras captured images of Polar Mesospheric Clouds (PMCs) with a sensitivity to spatial scales from ~20 m to 100 km at a ~2-s cadence and a full field of view (FOV) of hundreds of kilometers. We developed software optimized for imaging of PMCs, controlling multiple independent cameras, compressing and storing images, and for choosing telemetry communication channels. We give an overview of the PMC Turbo design focusing on the flight software and telemetry functions. We describe the performance of the system during its first flight in July 2018.",

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author = "Kjellstrand, {Carl Bjorn} and Glenn Jones and Christopher Geach and Williams, {Bifford P.} and Fritts, {David C.} and Amber Miller and Shaul Hanany and Michele Limon and Jason Reimuller",

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AU - Williams, Bifford P.

AU - Fritts, David C.

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AU - Hanany, Shaul

AU - Limon, Michele

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The PMC Turbo Balloon Mission to Measure Gravity Waves and Turbulence in Polar Mesospheric Clouds: Camera, Telemetry, and Software Performance

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