Mission

The MEAP/B-PACE mission is a joint project between Esrange Space Center, University of Bern and Swedish Institute of Space Physics.

The MEAP (Mars Environment Analogue Platform) mission is to fly an ESRANGE provided stratospheric balloon on a semicircular flight around the North Pole using the summer north hemisphere wind pattern.

Predicted MEAP/P-BACE trajectory Image: IRF/CIA

As the atmospheric conditions at 30 - 40km altitude are remarkably similar to those on the surface of Mars, the balloon is an ideal testbed for instrumentation destined for Mars: MEAP carries the high resolution neutral gas mass spectrometer P-BACE (Polar Balloon Atmospheric Composition Experiment), for the in situ measurement of atmospheric composition.

The duration of the flight is around one week, the altitude is between 35-40 km. Starting at Esrange Space Center in Kiruna, the flight trajectory will lead over the Atlantic to Canada, where MEAP/P-BACE will land on a parachute.

P-BACE (Polar Balloon Atmospheric Composition Experiment) Image: University of Bern

For the MEAP mission, P-BACE is integrated along with supporting electronics into a pressurised vessel. Power is provided by solar pannels from the balloon platform, communication to the payload is established using an Iridium telecommunication system. During the semicircular flight around the North Pole, house-keeping and selected science data is transmitted in real time. The full science data set is stored onboard in redundant solid state disks and replayed after recovery.

Mission Objectives

1. to study variation of the stratospheric composition during the flight
2. to verify P-BACE instrument design for planetary mission applications (conditions in the Earth stratosphere is similar to the conditions at the Mars surface)
3. to establish solid working relations with the ESRANGE balloon program and to learn the specifics of the balloon platforms for the future potential experiments.