World Balloon News #26
Hello world. It’s nice to be here with another edition of World Balloon News. As usual, a lot of time has passed since the last edition, so I decided to change the newsletter style for brevity. Believe me, synthesis is not my thing so I hope you appreciate the effort.
In this issue I will talk about the summer NASA / CNES balloon campaign in ESRANGE, the firm pace of advance towards space tourism of Iwaya Giken as well the now concluded balloon campaign of JAXA in Hokkaido, Japan. Back in the United States, we have a lot going on with Aerostar and some recent milestones and flights, business expansion and first flights of the year from World View, news on Space Perspective’s ship for launching balloons, and new tests of the SCEYE Airship, as well the sudden apparition in the field of a new player Balloon Tech. Finally, I will sweep the press for interesting news on the field. In all, reading this newsletter will take approximately 20 minutes.
As usual, I hope you will enjoy it and if you like, I will thank you if you share it with those potential new readers. My big goal for this year is to expand the reader base. Also, donations -no matter how small- will be very welcome if you want to contribute to the project’s continuity.
Two launch campaigns at ESRANGE: CNES and NASA
For the first time in many decades, CNES and NASA shared time and space at ESRANGE, the Swedish balloon/rocket launch range located near Kiruna, to carry out their own launch campaigns. Like what happened a few years ago during Solve-Theseo 2000, both programs shared a physical location and a common space of time, but each one developed along separate tracks, each with its own objectives: NASA would perform four transatlantic missions from Sweden to Canada, while CNES would launch two short-duration local flights and would try its first transoceanic mission.
The key of the coexistence and no interference between operations of both agencies is that they use different launch techniques: while NASA historically relied upon the dynamic launch technique, which uses ESRANGE’s HERCULES vehicle to assist in the operation, CNES developed and used the so-called auxiliary balloon method which requires merely a bulldozer as anchor point for the flight train. Video examples of the first method here, and the second here.
Chronology of operations
The first NASA balloon mission of the campaign, transporting an experiment known as HELIX (High Energy Light Isotope eXperiment), was successfully launched at first try on May 28, and landed six days later in Ellesmere Island, Canada.
After that, three launch attempts were performed for the SUNRISE III Solar Telescope on that same day (May 28), June 1, and June 2, and one attempt for XL-CALIBUR on June 8.
On June 12, CNES performed its first local launch consisting in a multi-payload mission denominated SAPHERALLER, which flew for 5 hours before landing near the Finish border.
After that, several days of bad weather (rain) at ESRANGE prevented operations except for two launch attempts for XL-CALIBUR on June 13 and 21.
Operations resumed with CNES launching the TRANSAT long-duration mission on June 22, which after crossing the Atlantic and Greenland in little more than 4 days, finally landed in Baffin Island, Canada.
Images of the landing site of the TRANSAT mission. Left up can be seen the auxiliary balloon still attached to the flight train (the main balloon landed a few miles apart half in the sea and half on the ground and was recovered using a helicopter) the rest of the images show different views of the gondola (Copyright: CNES, Bray Nicolas) Four days later CNES would wrap up the campaign with the last local flight denominated ATMOSPHER which was performed successfully on June 26 and remained aloft for 11 hours.
In the remainder of the month and first days of July, while the closing of the transatlantic window was drawing near, NASA made new launch attempts for XL-CALIBUR which finally was sent aloft at the eighth attempt on July 9. The balloon performed flawlessly during the almost six days of flight to Nunavut Territory, Canada.
In rapid succession, NASA managed to complete the two reminder missions: on July 10 with the launch of the SUNRISE III Solar Telescope which in 6 days completed its flight from Sweden to Northwest Territories in Canada, and on July 13 with the launch of the BIG60 balloon which with a volume of 60 million cubic feet became the largest balloon ever launched in Europe. The balloon transporting a payload called BOOMS (Balloon Observation of Microburst Studies) completed in little more than 3 days its travel to the Kitikmeot Region of Nunavut, Canada.
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World View finally lands in Australia
The Tucson-based balloon firm World View announced in late May that will finally set foot in Australia via a 25 Million investment from Breakthrough Victoria, an investment company established by the Victorian government. This will allow the company to establish regional headquarters in Melbourne, to operate as World View Indo-Pacific. Plans include establishing an advanced manufacturing facility in Victoria, and about 200 job positions ranging from engineering, data science, material science, and non-degreed skilled labor.
Australia has long been a sought-after goal for the company. Years ago there were some attempts to operate their Stratollite fleet from Alice Springs to no avail. More recently, the company carried out some feasibility studies to establish a balloon launch site on the east coast of Australia, more precisely in Queensland. However, I have no additional information on the degree of progress of this last initiative.
However, recently Australian media expressed some concerns about the financial viability of the agreement.
Recent balloon launches
This is a succinct resume of balloons launched by World View since the last issue. Full details are available following the links:
On May 10, the firm launched a Stratollite balloon from Space Port Tucson on a mission called AETHER-2R sponsored by the Sierra Nevada Corp. The balloon flight ended in central Texas after 63 hours aloft.
On May 22, a zero-pressure balloon was launched also from Tucson under the name SCOUT-1, aimed to perform a test flight from the stratosphere of a paraglider system, as a step for returning payloads and cargo from the orbit of earth. The paraglider, developed by a company called OUTPOST, was deployed at 20 km of altitude and performed a glide of nearly 165 miles for landing in New Mexico.
Finally, on August 12, the firm performed a balloon flight from Page, Arizona as part of NASA’s Flight Opportunities Program. The zero-pressure balloon transported 30 students’ experiments belonging to the Techrise Initiative. The mission landed near Beaver Dam (AZ) after a little more than five hours aloft.
A very active summer for Aerostar
Without considering the balloons they made for NASA and were flown by the agency in recent campaigns, the Sioux Falls-based company -part of the TCOM portfolio of aerospace and defense companies- continues to be the most active player in the ballooning field.
In April, -the same day I closed the previous edition of this newsletter- the firm issued a press release celebrating 500 consecutive days of operations in the stratosphere with their Thunderhead balloons. Among the longest flights the company made in that period, I can mention HBAL 582 (62 days), HBAL 661 (95 days), HBAL 673 (111 days), and HBAL 614 (119 days). The current record-holder mission is HBAL 574 with 156 days aloft, however, it probably will be surpassed soon by HBAL 676, launched on March 28, from New Mexico which is still aloft with a very remarkable performance.
What follows is a brief resume of AEROSTAR’s new launches since my last report.
During the last days of April, was performed a very brief mission from the firm’s undisclosed launch facility in Santa Fe County (NM). With only 4 hours aloft HBAL 683 probably was a failed launch.
In May two launches were made from Hurley (SD) with two Thunderheads HBAL 685 y HBAL 686 that remained in flight for 46 and 28 hours respectively.
June started with a single flight of a Thunderhead launched from Hurley (SD) on the 7th, HBAL 688 which moved south and remained for days operating in the Texas/New Mexico border before landing 13 days later in North Dakota.
After that, the activity focus shifted to East Asia as two balloons, (HBAL 694 & HBAL 695) were launched by the firm on June 10th from Guam as part of the military exercise Valiant Shield 2024. Althought initial plans were to move the balloons back to the continental US after the exercise's end, both flights were terminated and sunk at an unknown date and location in the Pacific Ocean.
Inflation of one of the two Thunderhead balloons launched from the A.B. Won Pat International Airport, in Guam as part of Valiant Shield 2024 military exercise (Source: DVIDS) At the end of June, a launch team was deployed to Florida where five Thunderheads were launched: on the 22th HBAL 641 from Avon Park Airport, and then the four remainder from Cross City Airport, HBAL 642 on June 25, HBAL 644 and HBAL 643 on June 26, and HBAL 645 on the 27th.
July saw a single mission from Hurley (SD) when HBAL 697 was launched on the 16th for a 2 days-long mission that ended in Nebraska on the 18th.
The first mission of August was launched from the Baker City Municipal Airport in Oregon on the 4th. The mission involved a Thunderhead platform carrying a system known as STRATOS (Strategic Tactical Radio and Tactical Overwatch) aimed to provide cell coverage to firefighters operating in remote areas. The initiative is a cooperative effort between NASA researchers, the U.S. Forest Service, and Aerostar. The balloon operated for some days in two areas of Idaho with important fires underway providing relay communications between the fighting teams and their HQs and obtaining imagery in real-time from the stratosphere. After that, the balloon continued its observational mission over several U.S. fires as well as over fire areas in Canada. Its last known location was over Central Saskatchewan on August 24th.
HBAL689 - STRATO mission ascending from the Baker Muni Airport in Oregon (Image: NASA) Continuing the firm’s activity for the month, three Thunderhead balloons were launched from Morocco as part of a military exercise called Arcane Thunder 24. The operation took place on August 7th and 8th from the Guelmim Military Airport. Of the three balloons launched one failed soon after, while the remainder two HBAL 698 and HBAL 700 operated in the Atlantic Ocean north of the Canary Islands during the following days. Once the exercise concluded, the balloons were directed to cross the Ocean toward the United States arriving there on the 19th. After spending some days in the central part of the country, HBAL 698 landed in Minnesota on the 28th while HBAL 700 did the same two days later in Iowa.
In case you are new to this newsletter, you can find detailed information on almost every scientific, commercial, and military balloon flight performed around the world since 1947 by visiting StratoCat, the first and only website devoted to documenting the use of stratospheric balloons during the last 70 years.
JAXA balloon campaign in Hokkaido
As occurs every year, the Japanese Space Agency (JAXA) is carrying out a balloon launch campaign from the Taiki Aerospace Research Field, located within the Taiki Multi-Purpose Aerospace Park of Taiki, in Hokkaido.
So far, four balloon launches have been performed:
Mission BS24-02 for testing a lightweight, large, thin-shell conical aeroshell to protect payloads reentering from orbit called RERA (Rubber balloon Experiment for Reentry capsule with thin-type Aeroshell) on July 4th
Mission BS24-03 on July 25th as part of a technological development to verify the general theory of relativity by mounting a laser with extremely high-frequency stability on a balloon and comparing the optical frequency with that of a laser on the ground.
Mission B24-01 on August 3rd, for BIOPAUSE a research project of the Chiba Institute of Technology aimed to conduct a series of bioaerosol sampling in the stratosphere to determine the location of the "biopause", the upper boundary of the biosphere.
Balloon inflation at Taiki for BIOPAUSE experiment (Image: JAXA) Mission BS24-04 on August 22nd, for HIGHPER (High-altitude Propeller Evaluation Research) a mission to evaluate the performance in altitude of a propeller to be used in a future Mars exploration airplane.
Only two more flights remained to complete the campaign: one mission to evaluate in flight the performance of a super-pressure balloon with a net-covered membrane and another to test an improved design of a cryogenic sampler developed at the Miyagi University of Education. However, on August 28 JAXA announced that both experiments were rescheduled for the next year due to an unsolvable malfunction in one case and bad weather in the other, thus ending the 2024 launch campaign.
Mysterious company performs balloon test flights in California
During the last months, I have been following the ongoing balloon tests of a new and unknown company, that popped up all the sudden into the ADS-B public network in last April. The company behind the mysterious flights is Balloon Tech Co., a firm born from the ecosystem of Good Machine, a venture studio involved in several projects related to the environment.
All balloon flights originated from or nearby Spanish Ranch, a hamlet in Santa Cruz County, Central Coast, California. This is an area of very dense forest, which could match what the company responsible for the flights shows on the cover of its website.
The first flight was on April 30th reaching 60.000 ft of altitude but ending suddenly after, probably due to a balloon failure.
Second flight was in June 19th this time with a duration of near 8 hours to reach Tonopah, Nevada.
The most recent test took place on August 21st with landing near Eureka, Nevada and a total flight time of 11 hours and 20 minutes. Hopefully this time, the flight of the balloon was captured over Nevada by the photographer Lee Saloutos as we can see below.
To the moment of publication of this issue, all my attempts to obtain more information by contacting the firm remain unanswered.
NASA Fall balloon campaign in New Mexico
As occurrs every fall, NASA is performing a massive balloon launch campaign from its scientific flight facility located in the Ft. Sumner Municipal airport in New Mexico. So Far, three missions were acomplished from the eight planned.
On August 21, was hand-launched a small balloon carrying an experiment denominated TINMAN (ThermalIzed Neutron MeAsuremeNt experiment) that flew for 6 hours.
Next day, was performed a technological flight to validate several systems developed at the Columbia Balloon Scientific Facility. The mission that endured 5 and a half hours included onboard several pyggiback experiments.
On August 28, a third flight was performed for the High Altitude Student Platform (HASP) program. This particular mission was an engineering test flight of the upgraded gondola and systems for the HASP program. The annual flight carrying the students experiments will be carried out later on the campaign.
After that, rain and bad weather, both in the launch base and the expected landing area of the balloon prevented the realization of the next experiment in the launch queue: the Exoplanet Climate Infrared TElescope (EXCITE).
Iwaya and two key crewed tests in Japan
The Hokkaido-based balloon firm Iwaya Inc. founded and directed by Keisuke Iwaya achieved in the summer two fundamental milestones in its goal of being the first company to offer leisure trips into the stratosphere. The company has a very timely schedule of incremental steps that started back in 2022 with the first tethered flight in Fukushima. Now that incremental path led to the achievement of an altitude record for a crewed flight in Japan.
The first flight was conducted on June 2, in the Tokachi region in Hokkaido with the goal of test the operation of the pressurized capsule (Earther T-10) and life support system to be used in future commercial missions. A secondary objective was to demonstrate that it is possible to reach altitudes of over 10,000 meters using the balloons developed in-house by the firm.
The balloon, piloted by Miyajima Kaori, performed a two-hour mission reaching a maximum altitude of 10.55 km and traveling a distance of 28.6 km.
The second flight was conducted on July 17, with launch from Shihoro and landing almost 5 hours later near the city of Obihiro, both in Hokkaido. The objectives of the flight were similar to the June test, but doubling the altitude above 20 km.
Final maximum altitude achieved was 20.8 km establishing a new unofficial record for a crewed flight in Japan.
Two recent missions for Sceye with an eye in Europe
On June 3 the company performed a long duration test of their Stratospheric Airship over New Mexico that endured more than 17 hours. The mission served to demonstrate controlled relocation, station-keeping capability, and diurnal flight by studying system performance throughout day-to-night temperature and pressure variations. Notably, the flight was carried out using Sceye's beyond-line-of-sight command and communication link.
More recently, on August 15, a second mission was performed. This time the objective of the flight was to demonstrate diurnal flight, controlled relocation, and the ability to stay over an area of operation. The vehicle carried onboard an advanced payload suite including synthetic aperture radar, stereo-optical cameras and infrared cameras to among others allowed for detection of wildfires and methane leaks in real time. The mission endured 29 hours being the longest one performed yet by the company.
A brief controversy arose from this last flight after landing as several firefighter teams were sent to the landing site under allegations of possible fire hazards from onboard batteries, which Sceye later denied.
Besides its operations in the US, Sceye has an eye on Europe, where it plans to operate soon with its stratospheric airships. The operative base will be located in Spain, more precisely in the airport of Teruel. In a recent meeting, the Governing Council of the airport approved the tendering of the construction of a hangar and production facility for stratospheric airships with an investment of nearly 43 million euros. This project will be financed by the Teruel Investment Fund and could be completed by the end of 2026. The facility will count with a goods reception area, a production area, and a hangar.
Space Perspective’s balloon launch ship arrived in Florida
After being retrofitted in a shipyard in Louisiana for months, the future base for the launch of the near-space tourist flights by the Florida-based firm Space Perspective, it’s finally at its home port in Fort Pierce.
Marine Spaceport Voyager is the first ship entirely modified for the single purpose of launching balloons. The great advantage aside from the mobility is that the ship can sail with the wind at the same speed, creating a “zero-wind” condition which is ideal for the appropriate management of a balloon of the dimensions to be used for the crewed flights.
Althought the ship arrived to Fort Pierce, its home port will be Cape Canaveral, very close to the firm facility located in Titusville. In any case, the current whereabouts of the vessel can be tracked here at any time.
You don’t need to wait for the next issue of World Balloon News to know what’s happening right now in the field of scientific and commercial ballooning. I publish last-minute news as well as historical pictures and other content in Mastodon, the free, self-regulated, social media network in the Fediverse.
In the news
In late April, the Montecito Trails Foundation organized a hike to remember Julian Nott, a British record-setting balloonist and aviator, a little less than a month after the fifth anniversary of his death. Nott’s dead occurred in March 2019, following the successful test flight of an experimental pressurized high-altitude balloon over Warner Springs, California. After a successful landing, his gondola became loose and fell down a slope with Nott inside. At the hospital, he died from the serious injuries of this accident. [LINK]
An interesting article by Reuters was published on May 16 regarding the huge amount of low-level flying weather balloons launched by China against Taiwan since last December. The very well-illustrated piece tracks the more than 100 balloons launched over the strait that separates mainland China from Taiwan, some of which passed directly through the island’s territorial airspace or busy, Taipei-controlled air corridors for civil aviation. [LINK]
The War Zone published an article in which Howard Altman analyzes how Ukraine is doing anything it can to strike into Russian territory, including sending cheap ‘balloon bombs’ over the border. Although the effort could be deemed “ineffective” it could force Russian forces to divert resources to counter the new threat. [LINK]
What appeared at first a single and isolated event in the long history of tension between the two Koreas, escalated over the weeks to a point no one expected. All started when North Korea sent across the border dozens of balloons carrying onboard all kind of trash. The exchange of balloons carrying propaganda was a common practice, used by both sides, in the decade immediately following the end of the Korean War. However, this time the “litter offensive” seems to have no end in sight: recently rogue balloons caused alarm when they made its way into South Korea's presidential compound in the capital city of Seoul. [LINK #1] - [LINK #2] - [LINK #3]
According to an article published by the Task & Purpose website after the USAF spent a $ 400,000 Sidewinder missile to shoot down a $ 200 hobbyist balloon during the frantic days of the Chinese Spy Balloon incident in 2023, NORAD has learned to check websites for hobbyists and other organizations whenever the command’s sensors pick up an unknown radar track to see which balloons are out there. This rules out initial fears in the amateur balloon community of introducing tighter regulations that could render her beloved hobby unaffordable—good for them and American taxpayers. [LINK]
The 26th edition of the ESA Symposium on European Rocket and Balloon Programmes and Related Research, which takes place every two years, was held this year between May 19 and 23 at the Swiss Museum of Transport in Luzern, Switzerland. The event, created in 1973, counted this year with nearly 190 presentations organized in three parallel sessions and over 270 participants from 19 countries. The proceedings of the symposium will be available on their website in the northern hemisphere fall. [LINK]
Space.com announced that Hera Rising, a project aimed to perform the first balloon-borne stratospheric skydive by a woman will delay the jump until 2026. Some problems with the financing of the project would have forced the jump to be postponed for a year. The initiative preselected last year three parachutists: Eliana Rodriguez (US), Swati Varshney (India) and Diana Valerín Jiménez (Costa Rica). One of them would hopefully jump from the stratosphere in 2026. [LINK]
HALO Space, the Spain-based company aimed to offer balloon-borne tourist flights in the near future, moved the location of the upcoming test of their capsule “Aurora” to Saudi Arabia. The uncrewed flight will validate the integrated operation of all critical systems developed over the past three years. Originally, the mission would be carried out during the first half of 2023 in southern Spain. Announced date is during September. [LINK]
While the Chinese program of scientific ballooning is being grounded this summer for the second consecutive year as a consequence of the shoot down incident over the U.S. in early 2023 (don't ask me why as I don't have an explanation for it, but I know from a good source that that is the reason) the War Zone revealed that the secret airship hangar located in the Chinese remote region of Xinjiang, near Bosten Lake has been recently expanded by 300 feet. [LINK]
The Denver Gazzette published in early August an article about recent operations by Urban Sky, a Denver-based balloon firm obtaining thermal imagery over the Alexander Mountain fire in Larimer County, Colorado. The article explains how using Long-Wave Infrared (LWIR) bands the balloons managed to capture high resolution images of the state's largest wildfire of 2024. [LINK]
That’s all folks for this… week, month, whatever. See you soon, and remember, if you like the contents of this humble newsletter, please share it with those who could be interested and help me to widen the audience.