Falcon Gold - High Altitude Balloon Flight Test of a Fully Integrated Spacecraft

Students at the University of Colorado Springs (UCCS) and the United States Air Force Academy are designing, building and testing a spacecraft scheduled to fly on a Lockheed Martin Atlas/Centaur in October, 1997. The mission objective is to characterize the Global Positioning system (GPS) signal for use in orbit determination above the GPS constellation. An important step in this program is validating the design and functionality of the integrated spacecraft to reduce risk and ensure mission success. This leads to a dilemma balancing verification requirements and cost constraints. Students and faculty on the Falcon Gold team found a reasonable solution to this dilemma. They performed a complete end-to-end test of the integrated spacecraft by attaching it to a high altitude balloon. The balloon carried the spacecraft to an altitude of 105,000 feet. This paper discusses the "near-space" balloon flight conducted on 20 April, 1997. It briefly outlines the Falcon Gold mission and spacecraft design, details the procedures for accomplishing this type of balloon flight, lists the equipment required and presents the flight results. We also discuss problems encountered, solutions to those problems, and plans for future balloon flight tests of spacecraft prototypes.