BOLIDE (Balloon Lidar Experiment) is a compact Rayleigh lidar that can be carried by a stratospheric balloon. At an altitude of 38 kilometres, it operates in a very demanding environment and is the first lidar of this size to achieve this. BOLIDE measures gravity waves in the mesosphere and backscattering from noctilucent clouds. Its deployment on a balloon allows for continuous and spatially resolved measurements with a very good signal-to-noise ratio. At an altitude of 38 kilometres, there is much less scattered light, and the distance to the noctilucent clouds under investigation is half that of the ground. However, operation on a balloon places high demands on the instrument's control, thermal management, and power supply.
Technical drawing of the BOLIDE pressure vessel with laser and receiving electronics and the receiving telescope.
BOLIDE's maiden flight took place in July 2018 during a six-day flight from Kiruna, Sweden, to Nunavut, Canada, as part of the PMC Turbo campaign. The vertical measurements with the BOLIDE lidar optimally complemented the horizontal images of noctilucent clouds acquired by several NASA high-resolution cameras.
