Ppi results from the balloon drop experiment of the hasi pressure profile instrument

At December 1995 a balloon drop experiment was conducted at León, Spain, for the HASI (Huygens Atmospheric Structure Instrument) instrument of the Huygens probe. A part of HASI is the Pressure Profile Instrument (PPI) which will measure the atmospheric pressure profile of Titan during the descent at November 2004. The experiment platform was carried by a balloon to an altitude of 30 km and it made a subsequent parachute–assisted descent. The pressure instrument functioned basically as expected. The vertical flight trajectory and pressure profile was reconstructed by using the collected data of the pressure instrument and the simultaneous temperature measurements. The calculated flight trajectory was in agreement with independent measurements with Omega and GPS. Some turbulence was detected near the surface and other dynamic behaviour in the upper part of the trajectory. The experiment demonstrated the nominal performance of the PPI instrument and serves as a real-like test flight for the actual mission.