Iterative Design of a High-Altitude Balloon Payload for Interplanetary Dust Particle Collection

Abstract

High-altitude weather balloons offer a low-cost, reliable platform for reaching the stratosphere, where extraterrestrial material can be collected before significant terrestrial contamination. CATITO (Cosmic-Atmospheric Terrestrial Identification of Trapped Objects) is a balloon payload designed to collect Interplanetary Dust Particles (IDPs) on such high-altitude balloon (HAB) platforms. This paper presents the design and performance of two different flown iterations of CATITO. Following the engineering design analysis, this paper briefly discusses the implications of the collected samples.