Performance evaluation for scientific balloon station-keeping strategies considering energy management strategy

The combination of solar array and rechargeable battery is the main trend of energy system for scientific balloon station-keeping, when the performances of station-keeping strategies are evaluated, energy problem should be considered. In this paper, the performances of air ballast system and double balloon system are evaluated with the consideration of energy management strategy. The theoretical model consisting of thermal model, solar array power model, energy consumption model and energy evaluation model is proposed. The energy management strategy containing solar array and lithium battery is designed. Based on the theoretical model and energy management strategy, a MATLAB program is developed. The feasibility is verified by comparison analysis. The energy harvesting characteristics, effects of the station-keeping duration and effects of the station-keeping region radius are analyzed carefully. The results show that the double balloon is superior than air ballast system from the perspective of energy. The air ballast system requires more energy than double balloon system and the energy difference increases over time. Air ballast system lithium battery capacity requirement is higher than double balloon system, the total energy consumption and the energy differences decrease with expected radius increasing. It would be helpful in selecting station-keeping strategies for scientific balloon mission.