{"title":"A rockoon closed helium buoyancy system; a first assessment","authors":"F. Arias","doi":"10.59332/jbis-076-02-0042","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"It is believed that the use of rockoons will revolutionize the space industry by giving priority service to microsatellite developers that now are secondary payloads for large rocket companies. However, stratospheric balloons, including rockoons, are typically filled with helium, the price of which has been rising sharply in the last decade, and if the tendency continues the use of helium in this technology could be seriously compromised. Here, we present a first assessment of the possibility for a helium closed buoyancy system in which helium is stored in a pressurized tank attached to the stratospheric balloon and pumped into the balloon and back by means of a centrifugal pump. Preliminary reckoning shows that by using a carbon-fiber-reinforced polymers (CFRP) composite as material for the storage vessel, a vessel diameter around 4.5 m will be necessary to transport a small rocket with a total mass of 150 kg. A helium closed buoyancy system will allow not just saving helium but also controlled buoyancy during lifting and the landing. Keywords: Rockoon, Helium Stratospheric Balloons, Helium Market","PeriodicalId":54906,"journal":{"name":"Jbis-Journal of the British Interplanetary Society","volume":"65 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"2023-05-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Jbis-Journal of the British Interplanetary Society","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.59332/jbis-076-02-0042","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q4","JCRName":"Engineering","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
It is believed that the use of rockoons will revolutionize the space industry by giving priority service to microsatellite developers that now are secondary payloads for large rocket companies. However, stratospheric balloons, including rockoons, are typically filled with helium, the price of which has been rising sharply in the last decade, and if the tendency continues the use of helium in this technology could be seriously compromised. Here, we present a first assessment of the possibility for a helium closed buoyancy system in which helium is stored in a pressurized tank attached to the stratospheric balloon and pumped into the balloon and back by means of a centrifugal pump. Preliminary reckoning shows that by using a carbon-fiber-reinforced polymers (CFRP) composite as material for the storage vessel, a vessel diameter around 4.5 m will be necessary to transport a small rocket with a total mass of 150 kg. A helium closed buoyancy system will allow not just saving helium but also controlled buoyancy during lifting and the landing. Keywords: Rockoon, Helium Stratospheric Balloons, Helium Market
期刊介绍：
The Journal of the British Interplanetary Society (JBIS) is a technical scientific journal, first published in 1934. JBIS is concerned with space science and space technology. The journal is edited and published monthly in the United Kingdom by the British Interplanetary Society.
Although the journal maintains high standards of rigorous peer review, the same with other journals in astronautics, it stands out as a journal willing to allow measured speculation on topics deemed to be at the frontiers of our knowledge in science. The boldness of journal in this respect, marks it out as containing often speculative but visionary papers on the subject of astronautics.
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