The first flight trial of the non-powered supersonic experimental airplane (NEXST-1) was conducted by the National Aerospace Laboratory of Japan (NAL) on July 14, 2002 at Woomera, Australia. To acquire weather data for the Go/No-Go decision for the flight trial and for the post-flight analysis, a weather monitoring system was constructed at Woomera by NAL. The automatic weather station and the ultrasonic wind sensor were installed at the launch site and at the retrieval point, respectively. A radar tracking balloon and VHF radar were used to acquire wind data for a height of up to 20km, where the NEXST-1 experiment was to be performed. Since VHF radar has not been firmly established as a wind monitoring method, another flight test was conducted to confirm its performance. In addition to the NAL weather observations, the Bureau of Meteorology of Australia provided NAL with various weather information including weather forecasts and GPS sonde data released from the Woomera observation site. Using this weather monitoring system, the NEXST-1 flight trial was conducted once all weather criteria had been fully satisfied. Useful information for the next flight trial was also extracted from the analysis of the observed weather data.


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    Title :

    Techical Report of National Aerospace Laboratory: Weather Monitoring for NEXST-1 Flight Experiment


    Contributors:
    K. Hiroki (author) / M. Naoki (author) / M. Yoshitaka (author)

    Publication date :

    2003


    Size :

    114 pages


    Type of media :

    Report


    Type of material :

    No indication


    Language :

    English