Mars balloon Archimedes successfully tested

“Archimedes” (Aerial Robot Carrying High Resolution Imaging a Magnetometric Experiment and Direct Environmental Sensing Instruments) is a helium filled observation balloon with a diameter of approximately 15 metres. In 2009, it is intended to transport it on the AMSAT P5-A satellite for a planned mission to Mars and to bring it in an orbit around the red planet. There, it will be unfolded and inflated before being sent into Mars’ atmosphere. Due to its buoyancy and light entry mass Archimedes will then descend very slowly, generating an accurate altitude profile of our neighbouring planet.

Between 28 and 30 of June a total of 31 parabolic flights took place over three days using an Airbus A300 in Bordeaux, France. “Archimedes” was put in zero gravity conditions for approximately 20 seconds for each parabolic flight so that the release and the inflation of the balloon could be tested under space conditions.

The spacecraft project for the investigation of Mars and its atmosphere is managed by the “Mars Society Deutschland e.V.” and the AMSAT Deutschland (Amateur Satellite Organisation). There is also close cooperation with the Institute of Spaceflight Technology and the Institute of Light Weight Structures at the University of the Bundeswehr in Munich.

During further stages of the project, “Archimedes” will undergo the full array of development and qualification tests in the IABG space test centre. This will include tests on electromagnetic susceptibility (EMC tests), vibration and acoustic tests, space simulation and the determination of the mass properties of the Mars probe.