The accompanying paper for this code was presented at AAS GNC 2020 and is published here: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/338936020_Altitude_Control_of_a_Solar_Balloon_for_Mars_Exploration
This model is used to predict the altitude trajectory of a solar balloon on Mars. Parameters such as balloon size, envelope material properties, deployment location, Sol and time, etc. can all be adjusted in config.py to perform simulations.
A plotting example to show how to use the code is available in plots.py.
A solar balloon trajectory model for Earth is under developement.
- Tristan Schuler - University of Arizona
Hat Tip to Bovine Aerospace, who developed a Solar Balloon Trajectory Model for Earth in C++. This code was adapted from their repo.