湍流的新研究
In a series of flights between June 1-6, 2021, Stratodynamics Inc. launched its HiDRON stratospheric glider from a high-altitude balloon at Spaceport America in New Mexico. HiDRON carried technology supported by NASA’s Flight Opportunities program for the first time. The uncrewed HiDRON stratospheric glider from Stratodynamics is designed to release from a sounding balloon at near-space altitude, enabling a controlled descent for technology payloads aboard. The glider also achieves higher velocity than a balloon flight alone – one of the reasons NASA-supported researchers from the University of Kentucky chose Stratodynamics as the flight provider for testing of turbulence detection instruments.
According to the Federal Aviation Administration: “Clear air turbulence is air movement created by atmospheric pressure, jet streams, air around mountains, cold or warm weather fronts or thunderstorms. It can be unexpected and can happen when the sky appears to be clear.” Turbulence can be dangerous and has been know to injure passengers on commercial flights.
The series of flights aimed to help researchers assess the performance of a wind probe from the University of Kentucky and an infrasonic microphone sensor developed by researchers at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, which Stratodynamics licensed from NASA in 2020. Together, the instruments are designed to aid turbulence detection for remote-piloted and autonomous aerial vehicles, including commercial aircraft and on-demand delivery drones.
Learn more about this research.
Image Credit: Stratodynamics, Inc./UAVOS
在2021年6月1日至6日的一系列飞行中，Stratodynamics公司在新墨西哥州的美国太空港从一个高空气球上发射了其HiDRON平流层滑翔机。HiDRON首次搭载了由NASA飞行机会计划支持的技术。来自Stratodynamics公司的无人驾驶的HiDRON平流层滑翔机被设计为在近太空高度从探空气球上释放，使技术有效载荷能够控制下降。该滑翔机还实现了比气球单独飞行更高的速度——这是美国宇航局支持的肯塔基大学的研究人员选择Stratodynamics作为测试湍流检测仪器的飞行供应商的原因之一。
根据联邦航空管理局的说法:“晴空湍流是由大气压力、喷气流、山脉周围的空气、冷暖天气锋面或雷暴造成的空气运动。它可能是意想不到的，可能发生在天空看起来很晴朗的时候。”湍流可能是危险的，并且已知会在商业航班上伤害乘客。
这一系列飞行旨在帮助研究人员评估肯塔基大学(University of Kentucky)的风探测器和弗吉尼亚州汉普顿的NASA兰利研究中心(Langley Research Center)的研究人员开发的次声麦克风传感器的性能，Stratodynamics公司于2020年获得了NASA的平流层动力学许可证。这些仪器被设计用于帮助远程驾驶和自动驾驶飞行器(包括商用飞机和按需送货无人机)检测湍流。
图片来源:Stratodynamics, Inc./UAVOS