A stratospheric balloon GNSS-R experiment: The 3Cat-2 project in DLR/SNSB BEXUS

Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) - BarcelonaTech Remote Sensing Laboratory focus on the development of breakthrough concepts. The ³Cat-2 mission is on the synergy of GNSS reflectometry and the CubeSat concept. Scientifically valuable mission data will improve our understanding on the Earth´s environment. In particular, ocean currents need further investigation because of the spatio-temporal evolution of the mesoscale phenomena. The spacecraft development work includes two stratospheric flights in the frame of the REXUS/BEXUS programme coordinated by the European Space Agency (ESA). Coherent and incoherent scattering of Earth-reflected GNSS signals as sensed by the P(Y) & C/A ReflectOmeter (PYCARO) payload will be evaluated using the main state-of-the art Global Navigation Satellite Systems Reflectometry (GNSS-R) methodologies. Future spaceborne activities could take advantage of it, including the GNSS REflectometry, Radio Occultation and Scatterometry on-board International Space Station (GEROS-ISS) experiment.