The NASA ULDB project involving the development of super-pressure balloons (SPB) established a new launching site at Wanaka, NZ in 2015. This midlatitude southern hemisphere site enables NASA to support a goal of launching
payloads designed to meet 100-day flight mission requirements and to provide
lower risk balloon flights that circle the Earth. Three SPB campaigns have been
conducted from Wanaka, NZ in 2015, 2016, and 2017. The development of an
operational SPB vehicle continues.
NASA-CSBF supported a JPL effort to develop a next-generation parachute to
use on future Mars missions. This project involved the development of a static
launch balloon payload launch system to meet safety requirements for operations
personnel. The Low Density Supersonic Decelerator (LDSD) system involved a
payload with an armed solid fuel rocket motor. A mobile tower was designed to
lift the payload 70 feet from the surface. The system was designed to enable the
balloon and payload to be launched with no operations personnel within a safety
radius of 500 feet of the tower. Two launch operations supporting the LDSD project were successfully executed at the Pacific Missile Range Facility (PMRF) on
Kauai, Hawaii in the summers of 2014 and 2015. This static payload launch capability provides the NASA Balloon Program a wide range of capabilities to support
safe launch operations with a wide variety of hazardous payloads.
After a quarter century of operations under PSL-NMSU, NASA awarded
Orbital Sciences Corp., the contract to support the NASA Balloon Program in
2014, and following some corporate shenanigans Northrup Grumman Space
Systems is the contractor supporting the NASA Balloon Program today.
Throughout the 45 year life of the balloon facility in Palestine, TX the number
of flights launched per year has grown, settled down, and then diminished. It
peaked in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s with 75 flights per year. It averaged
about 40 flights per year in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s. At the turn of the
century the average number of flights was about 25. Today the average has dropped
to about 18 flights per year.
Early in the life of scientific ballooning, payloads were basically lab experiments modified to fly on balloons. If they failed or did not reach their goals, they
were recovered, improved and flown again. Balloons and helium were relatively
cheap and multiple flights for a payload were supportable. However, as payload
weights increased, scientific experiments became more sophisticated and more
expensive. As balloon sizes increased, balloon costs rose, and operational support
costs rose, forcing the science community to improve the reliability of their experiments. At the same time the reliability of balloons and operational support systems had to be improved. Balloon flight reliability was about 85% in the 1970’s
and 1980’s with some perturbations in film and balloon fabrication quality.
Throughout the 1980’s and 1990’s balloon reliability increased to where it is currently maintained with a mission success rate of about 94%. The goal is for 100%
268 Appendix 1: A Brief History of the NSBF/CSBF
payloads designed to meet 100-day flight mission requirements and to provide
lower risk balloon flights that circle the Earth. Three SPB campaigns have been
conducted from Wanaka, NZ in 2015, 2016, and 2017. The development of an
operational SPB vehicle continues.
NASA-CSBF supported a JPL effort to develop a next-generation parachute to
use on future Mars missions. This project involved the development of a static
launch balloon payload launch system to meet safety requirements for operations
personnel. The Low Density Supersonic Decelerator (LDSD) system involved a
payload with an armed solid fuel rocket motor. A mobile tower was designed to
lift the payload 70 feet from the surface. The system was designed to enable the
balloon and payload to be launched with no operations personnel within a safety
radius of 500 feet of the tower. Two launch operations supporting the LDSD project were successfully executed at the Pacific Missile Range Facility (PMRF) on
Kauai, Hawaii in the summers of 2014 and 2015. This static payload launch capability provides the NASA Balloon Program a wide range of capabilities to support
safe launch operations with a wide variety of hazardous payloads.
After a quarter century of operations under PSL-NMSU, NASA awarded
Orbital Sciences Corp., the contract to support the NASA Balloon Program in
2014, and following some corporate shenanigans Northrup Grumman Space
Systems is the contractor supporting the NASA Balloon Program today.
Throughout the 45 year life of the balloon facility in Palestine, TX the number
of flights launched per year has grown, settled down, and then diminished. It
peaked in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s with 75 flights per year. It averaged
about 40 flights per year in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s. At the turn of the
century the average number of flights was about 25. Today the average has dropped
to about 18 flights per year.
Early in the life of scientific ballooning, payloads were basically lab experiments modified to fly on balloons. If they failed or did not reach their goals, they
were recovered, improved and flown again. Balloons and helium were relatively
cheap and multiple flights for a payload were supportable. However, as payload
weights increased, scientific experiments became more sophisticated and more
expensive. As balloon sizes increased, balloon costs rose, and operational support
costs rose, forcing the science community to improve the reliability of their experiments. At the same time the reliability of balloons and operational support systems had to be improved. Balloon flight reliability was about 85% in the 1970’s
and 1980’s with some perturbations in film and balloon fabrication quality.
Throughout the 1980’s and 1990’s balloon reliability increased to where it is currently maintained with a mission success rate of about 94%. The goal is for 100%
268 Appendix 1: A Brief History of the NSBF/CSBF