The “Meteor Automated Light Balloon Experimental Camera” (MALBEC) project aims at the observation of meteors from stratospheric altitude. The advantage is mainly to guarantee the success of an observation run of a meteor shower, even in presence of clouds. In order to fully exploit the scientific potential of a meteor observation (e.g. derive the internal structure and origin via the measure of tensile strength and orbit), double-station setup is required. The consequence for MALBEC is the necessity of stabilization and we show that a 3-axis stabilization is necessary. In addition, the two stations must be separated by a distance ranging from ~40 km to 110 km, and the cameras must point towards the same portion of atmosphere. We show that under usual circumstances, double station stratospheric observation is possible since the distance and the azimuth between the two balloons (experiencing different atmospheric conditions) varies in small proportions.

Under usual slow wind conditions, the distance between the stations varies by a few km and the elevation of the azimuth and elevation of the cameras needed to observe the same portion of atmosphere varies by a few deg only. In order to demonstrate the feasibility of stratospheric double station meteor observation we developed a tool to simulate the flight and predict the trajectory of the MALBEC nacelle. This will be further illustrated in the upcoming presentation,