Cobham Antennas Systems (Microwave Antennas) has aided the Swedish Space Corp. (SSC) and scientific teams from Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) in Germany with their ongoing scientific investigations, by supplying an omni antenna for use on the SSC’s balloon gondola that provided an effective link for transmitting data to the ground.

The scientific instrument MIPAS/B-Telis was successfully launched from the Esrange Space Center in Kiruna in northern Sweden, with the balloon gondola reaching a height of 34 km before landing 14 hours later 40 km west of Kuusamo in eastern Finland. Mounted beneath the gondola and completely exposed, the antenna worked well throughout the harsh, freezing conditions of the flight, helping to provide scientists with the data required.

This antenna, model number EVD2-1450/124, was selected due to its rugged construction in combination with the right frequency and specification for this application. The specification includes a frequency range of 1.4 to 1.5 GHz, 2 dBi gain, vertical polarization and a weight of 120 g.

The scientific teams from Karlsruhe Institute of Technology lead by Professor Hermann Oelhaf, and DLR-IMF lead by Manfred Birk, were very pleased with the flight and they obtained valuable scientific data. The scientific objective was to perform time dependent measurement of trace gases and cloud properties in the upper troposphere and stratosphere with various remote sensing techniques inside the chemically activated vortex. In parallel, validation of data on board the ESA satellite Envisat and coordination with aircraft measurements during the Reconcile EU-FP7 arctic campaign at Kiruna Airport were also made.