COBRAT Project: Long duration balloons for the study of high energy phenomena and consequences for stratospheric chemistry

International audienceThe study of the Transient Luminous Events (TLE) and of the Terrestrial Gamma-ray Flashes (TGF) will be performed soon by the satellite instruments TARANIS (CNES) and ASIM (ESA, onboard the International Space Station). In complement to these measurements, observations are proposed to be conducted from long-duration balloons above equatorial regions. This project, called COBRAT, consists of gondolas with instruments dedicated to the detection of the TGF, TLE, electric and magnetic fields, and some atmospheric species that could be produced during these events. The various instruments are presented, as well as the proposed strategy of measurements from balloons and at ground