Feasibility Study AHAB - Concurrent Engineering Study Report

Abstract

The Earth’s atmosphere spans a wide regime of altitude and reaches far into space. However, the regime between 40 and 200 km makes a sustainable flight and hence measurements difficult and at certain heights even impossible. This is mainly due to the low density of the atmosphere that does not create sufficient lift. To face this challenge DLR Bremen and the Institute of Environmental Physics started a collaborative feasibility study in order to design a satellite (AHAB) that meets all relevant requirements to penetrate into this forbidden regime. AHAB is an acronym and means Atmospheric High Altitude Probe. It belongs to the class of low perigee satellites and should enable in-situ measurements in the upper mesosphere and lower thermosphere (UMLT), 130-115km. The UMLT forms the borderline affected terrestrial atmospheric layers and extra-terrestrial impacts (high energetic particles, meteorites). First results have been discussed in [1] and form the starting point for the current study.