English

DTIC ADA012292: POBAL-S, The Analysis and Design of a High Altitude Airship

An engineering analysis and development effort has been executed to design a superpressure airship, POBAL-S, capable of station keeping at an altitude of 21 kilometers for a duration of 7 days while supporting a payload weighing 890 newtons and requiring 500 watts of electrical power. A detailed parametric trade-off between various power sources and other design choices was performed. The computer program used to accomplish this analysis is described and many results are presented. The system concept which resulted was a fuel cell powered, propeller driven airship controlled by an on-board autopilot with basic commands telemetered from a ground control station. Design of the balloon, power train, gimbaled propeller assembly, and electronic/electrical systems is presented. Flight operations for launch and recovery are discussed.

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