249
© 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_11
11
Conclusions
Hopefully this book will have shown the reader that the world of scientific and
commercial ballooning, and its supporting infrastructure, is far more extensive
and comprehensive than imagined. What is more, the future is bright! There are
tens of thousands of people all over the world involved in ballooning and that’s not
counting sport ballooning. As of the end of 2020, there are over 100 balloons in
the air simultaneously worldwide, most of them commercial ones in the lower
stratosphere providing internet services. Furthermore some flights are breaking
records. The current world-record altitude for a stratospheric balloon is 53 km
(173,840 ft) set by the Japanese in 2002. On October 29, 2020, the commercial
balloon company Loon announced it had broken the record for flight duration of
312 days, having flown around the world. Some balloons have circumnavigated
the globe more than once. We have learned to use this ancient flight vehicle and
enhance the technology to the point where, not only do balloons fly higher and
longer but can, to a degree, persist over a target.
While the U.S. government has been launching balloons from scores of locations since the Second World War, during the NASA era they have routinely
launched from about seven sites: three in the U.S. and the others exploiting the
capabilities of a specific latitude, most particularly Antarctica. Surprisingly, that
continent is larger than the U.S.-Mexico combined, yet scientists routinely take
advantage of the polar vortex circulation and circumnavigate it to take data as long
as they can. When considering all the international balloon programs, one can add
another six or so routinely used launch sites. The commercial world includes both
science and purely commercial missions, with the latter mostly being internet
related payloads but also future ventures including tourism. They tend to launch
where needed, but have their favorite sites near their own corporate facilities.
© 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_11
11
Conclusions
Hopefully this book will have shown the reader that the world of scientific and
commercial ballooning, and its supporting infrastructure, is far more extensive
and comprehensive than imagined. What is more, the future is bright! There are
tens of thousands of people all over the world involved in ballooning and that’s not
counting sport ballooning. As of the end of 2020, there are over 100 balloons in
the air simultaneously worldwide, most of them commercial ones in the lower
stratosphere providing internet services. Furthermore some flights are breaking
records. The current world-record altitude for a stratospheric balloon is 53 km
(173,840 ft) set by the Japanese in 2002. On October 29, 2020, the commercial
balloon company Loon announced it had broken the record for flight duration of
312 days, having flown around the world. Some balloons have circumnavigated
the globe more than once. We have learned to use this ancient flight vehicle and
enhance the technology to the point where, not only do balloons fly higher and
longer but can, to a degree, persist over a target.
While the U.S. government has been launching balloons from scores of locations since the Second World War, during the NASA era they have routinely
launched from about seven sites: three in the U.S. and the others exploiting the
capabilities of a specific latitude, most particularly Antarctica. Surprisingly, that
continent is larger than the U.S.-Mexico combined, yet scientists routinely take
advantage of the polar vortex circulation and circumnavigate it to take data as long
as they can. When considering all the international balloon programs, one can add
another six or so routinely used launch sites. The commercial world includes both
science and purely commercial missions, with the latter mostly being internet
related payloads but also future ventures including tourism. They tend to launch
where needed, but have their favorite sites near their own corporate facilities.