TRANSAT campaign
The Canadian Space Agency is collaborating with France's Centre national d'études spatiales (CNES) for the TRANSAT campaign, which will take place between and at the Esrange Space Center in Kiruna, Sweden.
This campaign will have two domestic balloon flights and one transatlantic balloon flight that will land in northern Canada.
One of the domestic flights will carry two Canadian payloads and land in Sweden. The transatlantic flight, however, will carry two Canadian payloads across the Atlantic Ocean all the way to Nunavut, where a team will be deployed to recover the balloon, gondola and experiments. This flight is planned to last approximately 3 to 4 days, and it will be the first transatlantic balloon flight conducted by CNES and CSA. A transatlantic flight is of longer duration and therefore offers unique scientific opportunities.
The objective of the campaign is for new technologies to be tested and for scientific experiments to be conducted in a near-space environment at a low cost while helping train and develop a highly qualified workforce. It also contributes to the scientific and technological advancement of the Canadian space sector.
List of Canadian payloads on zero-pressure balloons
Transatlantic flight
-
Canadian Atmospheric Laser Absorption Spectroscopy Experiment Test-bed (CALASET) Sensor
- Organization: University of Toronto
- Objective: In situ measurements of atmospheric gases (e.g. CO2) using non-dispersive infrared absorption spectroscopy
-
OSIRIS-3 (Optical Spectrograph and InfraRed Imager System 3)
- Organization: University of Saskatchewan
- Objectives:
- Atmospheric limb retrievals of O3, NO2, and aerosol; and
- prototype demonstration for a 6U satellite
Members of the University of Saskatchewan team that worked on OSIRIS-3. (Credit: OSIRIS-3 team, University of Saskatchewan, )
-
Sweden flight
MaQFly (Quantum Magnetometer in the Stratosphere)
- Organization: Cégep de Sherbrooke in partnership with SBQuantum
- Objective: Demonstration of reliability and precision of a quantum magnetometer designed for space applications
-
Miniature Imaging Fabry-Perot Spectrometer (MIFPS)
- Organization: York University
- Objectives:
- To obtain accurate high-resolution measurements of molecular oxygen O2 A-band using a concept-proven imaging Fabry-Perot spectrometer; and
- to retrieve simultaneously from the measurements surface pressure, aerosol information, and surface albedo
The York University team that worked on MIFPS. (Credit: MIFPS team, York University, )
Contact
Should you have any questions regarding the STRATOS program, contact us at stratos_administration@asc-csa.gc.ca.