World View Completes 27-Hour Stratollite Mission | Aero-News Network
Aero-News Network
RSS icon RSS feed
podcast icon MP3 podcast
Subscribe Aero-News e-mail Newsletter Subscribe

Airborne Unlimited -- Most Recent Daily Episodes

Episode Date

Airborne-Monday

Airborne-Tuesday

Airborne-Wednesday Airborne-Thursday

Airborne-Friday

Airborne On YouTube

Airborne-Unlimited-06.23.25

Airborne-NextGen-06.24.25

AirborneUnlimited-06.25.25

Airborne-AffordableFlyers-06.26.25

AirborneUnlimited-06.27.25

Fri, Sep 08, 2017

World View Completes 27-Hour Stratollite Mission

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

Advertisement

More News

ANN's Daily Aero-Term (06.30.25): Ground Stop (GS)

Ground Stop (GS) The GS is a process that requires aircraft that meet a specific criteria to remain on the ground. The criteria may be airport specific, airspace specific, or equip>[...]

ANN's Daily Aero-Linx (06.30.25)

Aero Linx: Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) improves safety and public confidence in aviation, marine and rail transport thro>[...]

Aero-News: Quote of the Day (06.30.25)

“The Palo Alto stopover confirmed—yet again—that flight schools and aero-clubs are no longer just curious about electric training; they are ready to buy. In just >[...]

NTSB Final Report: ICON A5

Pilot’s Failure To Maintain Clearance From The Water While Flying At A Low Altitude Analysis: The flight of two airplanes was in cruise flight on a north heading about 50 ft >[...]

Airborne Affordable Flyers 06.26.25: PA18 Upgrades, ‘Delta Force’, Rhinebeck

Also: 48th Annual Air Race Classic, Hot Air Balloon Fire, FAA v Banning 100LL, Complete Remote Pilot The news Piper PA-18 Super Cub owners have been waiting for has finally arrived>[...]

blog comments powered by Disqus



Advertisement

Advertisement

Podcasts

Advertisement

© 2007 - 2025 Web Development & Design by Pauli Systems, LC