Реферативный перевод

PROJECT GHOST

ПРОЕКТ ГЛОБАЛЬНОГО ГОРИЗОНТАЛЬНОГО ЗОНДИРОВАНИЯ АТМОСФЕРЫ

(1) A balloon launched from New Zealand, disappeared in the Indian Ocean after 234 days of flight. [Floating with the prevailing winds at a constant height of 12 km, it had circumnavigated the Earth 20 times]. During said time it had constantly supplied meteorological information about the upper atmosphere.

(1) Пролетев над Землей в течении 234 дней, воздушный шар, запущенный в Новой Зеландии, исчез в Индийском океане. Находясь в воздухе все это время, он постоянно передавал на Землю информацию о состоянии верхних слоев атмосферы.

(2) The balloon was one of the 88 released over a period of a year as part of the evaluation programme for Project GHOST (Global Horizontal Sounding Technique). The project is [one of a number now being evaluated as] a means of providing world-wide coverage of meteorological conditions during the next decade. [The experiences were so successful that GHOST now appears to be the most promising project. The eventual aim would be to keep some 6,000 balloons circling the Earth at altitudes between 5 and 25 km.] The information they provide would be relayed to satellites and then to a ground based computer for analysis.

(2) Это был один из восьмидесяти восьми воздушных шаров, запущенных в течение года в рамках проекта ГГЗА (глобального горизонтального зондирования атмосферы). Проект предполагает глобальную оценку метеоусловий следующего десятилетия. Полученная с помощью таких воздушных шаров информация сначала передается на спутники, а затем на наземный компьютер для анализа.

(3) The heart of the GHOST is the superpressure spherical balloon. [Basically, there are three types of balloons now in use. The most familiar, and the one in daily use throughout the world, is the expandable, unvented balloon. Made like a child’s toy balloon of rubber or synthetic rubber, it is designed to ascend until the expanding gas stretches the balloon wall to the breaking point.]Balloons of this type are used to carry aloft the many hundreds of radiosondes launched each day by the various national services to take measurement in the upper atmosphere.

(3) Главным исполнителем проекта ГГЗА является сферический воздушный шар-зонд сверхвысокого давления. Подобные шары используются для того, чтобы удерживать в воздухе множество радиозондов, запускаемых метеослужбами различных стран для изучения состояния верхних слоев атмосферы. Объем и масса такого воздушного шара остаются практически постоянными и поэтому он летит на одной и той же высоте.

(4) [The other two balloon types are non-extensible, made of one of the plastic films. The more common type is used for carrying scientific packages ranging from film packs, used to investigate cosmos radiation, to heavy and complex astronomical equipment. This type has been used for almost all manned flights and is known as a zero pressure balloon [because it permits the expanding gas to escape once the balloon envelope has been filled to its full volume. This results in the internal gas pressure equalling that of the outside atmosphere. With the valving off this “free lift” gas, neutral buoyancy is quickly achieved and the balloon floats at a relatively constant altitude. This condition continues until changes in the radiation environment allow the gas to cool, thereby contracting and decreasing the volume occupied by the balloon system. Having less volume, the balloon begins to descend unless part of the balloon total weight, in the form of ballast is expended].

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(5) [The superpressure balloon, on the other hand, does not vent the predetermined amount of excess gas once it has filled out to its full volume. It rises until the displaced air equals the mass of the balloon and its instrument package, and the gas, sealed within the balloon, unable to expand, exerts an increasing pressure on the walls of the balloon. The internal pressure becomes considerably greater than the atmospheric pressure; hence the term ‘superpressure’. As the radiation environment changes, the heating or cooling of the lifting gas increases or reduces the overpressure]. The volume and mass of the balloon remain essentially constant so that it continues to float at a constant density altitude. [The only change the balloon experiences is the change in skin stress].

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(6) [Some change in the size of the balloon does occur with these skin stress changes. With the polyester used in constructing the balloons now circling the Southern Hemisphere, a one per cent increase in the internal balloon temperature over that of the outside air will cause the balloon to increase in volume by 0.15 per cent. This results in a change in altitude of about 10 m. Since the most drastic change in internal temperature occurs at sunset and again at sunrise, this being a 3 or 4 per cent temperature change, the balloon will vary in its altitude by a maximum of 30 to 40 m.]

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(7)[The theoretical life of these balloons is determined by the rate at which the lifting gas diffuses through the balloon walls. The percentage gas loss per day is proportional to the pressure and to a diffusion, or permeability factor, and inversely proportional to the balloon radius and the thickness of its walls. The diffusion constant is dependent on the type of film used, the gas employed and the gas temperature. A balloon which loses 0.01 per cent of its gas per day and has an initial night-time overpressure of 10 per cent should fly for 1,000 days].

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(8) A computer programme is now being designed that will mathematically compute not only the exact balloon position but the velocity as well, [direct from the raw code letter period data]. Since the balloon moves with the air mass in which it is suspended, we will then be able to define exactly the wind structures and study the air circulations more thoroughly.

(8) Сейчас разрабатывается компьютерная программа для расчета не только точного положения шара, но и скорости его полета. Так как шар движется вместе с удерживающей его воздушной массой, то можно точно определить структуру ветров и более полно изучить циркуляцию воздуха

(9) Today, the vast majority of data above the surface are obtained by radiosondes – instruments [which are carried aloft more or less vertically and] which sense temperature, pressure and moisture, and telemeter these data to the ground. [These probes are tacked by radar or direction finders, yielding wind data, to altitudes of 30 km before the balloons burst.] Based on the number of sites from which these flights are are made and the area delineated by them, adequate data are available over only 20 per cent of the Northern Hemisphere and less than 10 per cent of the Southern Hemisphere. The GHOST will help alleviate this situation.

(9) Большинство данных об атмосферных процессах сейчас получают с помощью радиозондов, которые определяют температуру и влажность воздуха и передают информацию на Землю. Однако ее точность не превышает 20 % для северного полушария и 10% для южного. Проект будет способствовать исправлению такой ситуации.

(10) With improved fabrication and testing techniques, there appears to be no problem in obtaining reliable flights for periods in excess of two years [at 200 mb].

The flight test programme [for 30 mb (24 km)] balloons is just beginning.

(10) Усовершенствование производства шаров и методики зондирования будет способствовать достижению стабильного полета в течение двух лет.

Программа испытательных полетов только начинается.

(11) [The theoretical life of 80 years for these balloons is balanced against both the difficulty of testing these larger balloons to ensure that they have no leaks and the probability that the seals and film will deteriorate in the presence of the more intense ultraviolet light at the 24 km altitude].

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(12) The results of the initial GHOST flight tests have dramatically shown the promise of the technique – and highlighted the problems requiring additional investigation.

(12) Результаты первых полетов воздушных шаров по проекту ГГЗА наглядно показали его преимущества и выявили проблемы, требующие дополнительных исследований.