Demonstrating Viability As A Platform For High-Resolution Sensing

World View recently completed another successful milestone Stratollite mission, breaking their previous duration record by flying a total of ~27 hours. The company says the achievement is a major step forward for the Stratollite - the world's first long-duration (weeks/months), persistent and steerable stratospheric balloon vehicle capable of carrying payloads.

Stratollite was launched from Page, Arizona on Sunday, August 27th to further demonstrate the aircraft as a viable platform for high-resolution remote sensing. The Stratollite carried four remote sensing payloads from Ball Aerospace, with whom World View has a fantastic partnership. Ball and World View intend to use the Stratollite to collect persistent, high-resolution imagery for commercial and government customers, including US Southern Command, who commissioned this specific mission. Admiral Tidd, Commander, US Southern Command, recently said of the Stratollite, “We think this has the potential to be a game-changer for us – a great, long duration, long-dwell surveillance platform.” Future missions could include maritime surveillance operations such as combating human and drug trafficking and maritime piracy.

Flying through and controlling the Stratollite during a full day and night cycle is a major step forward. Temperature differences between day and night present buoyancy dynamic issues for the balloons, which make altitude and directional control quite difficult. But the company says it has now proven that the Stratollite system can handle those dynamics, and it is now the first high-altitude balloon vehicle to perform a controlled 25,000 ft. altitude change in the stratosphere.

(Images provided with World View news release)

FMI: worldview.space