Satellite Satellites—A Conjecture on Future Atmospheric-Sounding Systems

Abstract

The super-pressure balloon provides a vehicle for obtaining global horizontal soundings of meteorological parameters at all altitudes from 500 mb to 10 mb. The principal technical problems to be solved are reliable telemetering of data and obtaining of accurate positional data. The orbiting satellite, which of itself provides a poor sensing capability, is ideally suited to locate the balloons and serve as the communication link. The use of the super-pressure balloon as a satellite to the orbiting satellite promises a unique capability for obtaining global weather data on a continuous basis.