Particle Detection System Analysis in the Stratosphere Using High-Altitude Platforms Based on a MMPP-2 Model

Many space missions using High-Altitude Platforms (HAPs) are designed to measure contaminant particles in the stratosphere. However, there is no previous performance analysis of the sensors installed in the HAP in terms of the energy required by the detection system and the efficiency of the experiment. In this regard, it is not possible to assess the number of measurements that may be taken by the mission and the energy that it will consume in advance. Considering that energy resources are extremely limited in these space missions, especially in HAPs attached to hot-air balloons that effectively provide High-Altitude Platforms (HAPs), where the weight of the payload is of major importance to the success of the mission, a previous analysis is required to account for the feasibility and pertinence of the contaminant detection system. Building on this, we propose a mathematical analysis to determine the energy consumption of the measurement system based on the potential trajectories and the particle density. Also, the analysis provides an estimation of the number of particles that can be detected by the experiment in order to determine the performance of the sensor system. The model is based on an MMPP-2 (Markov Modulated Poisson Process with 2 states) model under exponential distribution assumptions, which provides a basic model that can be easily extended to other distributions in future works.