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20170104_0099

© Sébastien CHASTANET / CNES / OMP / IRAP / UT3 / CNRS Images

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20170104_0099

Préparation de la chaîne de vol de la nacelle CLIMAT, sur le site d'Alice Springs

Preparing the CARMEN gondola flight assembly at the Alice Springs facility in Australia. The flight assembly generally consists of the gondola and its payload of scientific instruments, but also a radar transponder, parachutes to enable a controlled landing during the balloon's post-mission descent, and a small auxiliary balloon from which the gondola is suspended pending lift-off. The CLIMAT flight (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.

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