A 3—Axis stabilised balloon platform for use during day- and night-time flights

Abstract The Balloon Platform developed at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (R.A.L.) is being adapted to carry the ZEBRA telescope which requires an arc-minute day- and night- pointing capability. The basic features of the platform and the modifications necessary for the ZEBRA application are briefly described. The new inertial stabilisation system uses 3-axis rate integrating gyros. Problems relating to gyro drifts and the methods of drift compensation to achieve the required pointing accuracy are discussed. The paper concludes by outlining the proposed strategy for setting up the control system in flight.