Small recoverable payload for deployable sounding rocket experiments
Torbjorn Sundberg, Nickolay Ivchenko, Dan Borglund, Per Ahlén, M. Gustafsson, Cathrine Jonsson, J. Juhlen, Oliver Neuner, John C. Sandstrom, Erik Sund, Matías Wartelski, Clay D. Westlund, Xin Lü · 2009
We present a design of a small payload for deployment from sounding rockets. The payload is intended for measurements in the ionosphere and the acquired data is stored onboard. For a secure recovery of the data and possible re-use of the payload, an inflatable structure is deployed during the payload descent. This reduces the payload speed and protects it from ground impact. On the ground, a localization system is activated, sending the payload position via a satellite link, and providing a radio beacon signal. The proposed small payload will allow high time resolution multipoint measurements in the ionosphere with small separation distances, thus allowing to address a number of unresolved questions in the field.