Nacelle de servitudes opérationnelles (NSO) de la nacelle CLIMAT

The operational services module in the CARMEN gondola at the Alice Springs balloon launch base in Australia. Situated in the core of the flight assembly, the operational service gondola receives and transmits data between the airborne and ground-based segments, and controls the aerostat (stratospheric balloon) in flight. It contains the flight avionics components, including the onboard computers, transponder and ballast container. In particular, these gondolas enable the actuation of gas- or ballast-releasing devices, to control the balloon's ascent and descent. Data received by the control centre on the ground indicates the balloon's position as well as the status of its onboard systems. The CLIMAT mission ( Combination of Lasers and Instruments for in situ Measurement of the Atmosphere of Earth) concerns a group of experiments by French and European laboratories aimed at furthering research into atmospheric physics and chemistry. For example, its 2015 flight enabled scientists to identify a 10% increase in methane in columns between 0 km and 15 km between 2000 and 2015; this important finding was subsequently reported at the COP21 climate conference.