An alternative approach to measure low level winds at Esrange

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When a rocket is launched from Esrange, all the way from ground up to 1000m is of great importance regarding the wind conditions and high resolution measurement. In order to determine the safety of landing and takeoff conditions, wind data is essential.Meteorological service is one the pre- flight services provided by Esrange before flight. Several meteorological systems are running at Esrange Space Center every day and night. Data collected from these tests are automatically transferred to a scientific data base. The measurement process becomes more intensive before each launch. These data (pressure, temperature and humidity) provides important information for the safety operation officer. During a countdown, meteorological balloons are launched regularly. ETAG (Esrange Throw Away GPS) is a new system developed by Esrange for wind measurement before any rocket launch. This means that Esrange is loosing a lot of quite expensive equipment for every wind sounding experiment as well as a balloon and Helium gas. So there is a need to define an alternative approach for low level wind measurement that would provide a relatively low- cost reusable system. Also the system will give the opportunity to measure the low level wind accurately at remote launch location. This thesis discusses the feasibility of a new idea of research to find alternative method to measure low level wind. The new idea is to use a large motorized fishing reel. The fishing reel will release and rewind a 1000 m line. This will allow to reuse the whole set and also have the possibility of high resolution. Also the balloon should move freely upward. That means the balloon should experience minimum tension while going up. A prototype of the proposed system was tested with 150m line and the result was compared with wind tower data. Wind speed and wind direction was determined up to 600m for seventeen meteorological balloons launched from Esrange. The advantages and disadvantages of the ETAG, motorized fishing reel system, and measurement procedures were identified and possible solutions were recommended. There were certain uncertainties and requirements which make the motorized fishing reel system des...