196
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
M. von Ehrenfried, Stratospheric Balloons, Springer Praxis Books,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-68130-2_9
9
The Balloon World
9.1 SCIENTIFIC ORGANIZATIONS
9.1.1 Wallops Flight Facility (WFF)
Overview
Established in 1945, the Wallops Flight Facility of Goddard Space Flight
Center is NASA’s premier site for conducting research using suborbital vehicles such as aircraft, scientific balloons, and sounding rockets. Its partnership
with the Mid- Atlantic Regional Spaceport expands the facility’s capabilities in
supporting the launch of orbital vehicles. Since its beginnings as a facility for
conducting high- speed research on aerodynamic designs, Wallops has launched
more than 16,000 rockets carrying aircraft models, space and Earth science
experiments, satellites, and technology development payloads. Partnering
with academia, industry, and other government facilities in the mid-Atlantic
region, Wallops is a test site for the introduction of unmanned aerial vehicle
use in the national airspace system. Initially it didn’t have a balloon program
but now has that responsibility as well. Wallops has many laboratories to support its many and diverse programs; some also support the Balloon Program,
for example by testing possible materials for balloons at its Balloon Research
and Development Laboratory.
For a 2:44 minute video of NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility: Looking Back at
2019, go to:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=voIC- 1kUmJ8
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
M. von Ehrenfried, Stratospheric Balloons, Springer Praxis Books,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-68130-2_9
9
The Balloon World
9.1 SCIENTIFIC ORGANIZATIONS
9.1.1 Wallops Flight Facility (WFF)
Overview
Established in 1945, the Wallops Flight Facility of Goddard Space Flight
Center is NASA’s premier site for conducting research using suborbital vehicles such as aircraft, scientific balloons, and sounding rockets. Its partnership
with the Mid- Atlantic Regional Spaceport expands the facility’s capabilities in
supporting the launch of orbital vehicles. Since its beginnings as a facility for
conducting high- speed research on aerodynamic designs, Wallops has launched
more than 16,000 rockets carrying aircraft models, space and Earth science
experiments, satellites, and technology development payloads. Partnering
with academia, industry, and other government facilities in the mid-Atlantic
region, Wallops is a test site for the introduction of unmanned aerial vehicle
use in the national airspace system. Initially it didn’t have a balloon program
but now has that responsibility as well. Wallops has many laboratories to support its many and diverse programs; some also support the Balloon Program,
for example by testing possible materials for balloons at its Balloon Research
and Development Laboratory.
For a 2:44 minute video of NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility: Looking Back at
2019, go to:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=voIC- 1kUmJ8