others are more interested in giving tourists access to the stratosphere. Still others
are providing services to the military or law enforcement.
This section only provides an introduction to those companies that manufacture
and/or provide balloons for their own endeavors, or to government agencies and
universities. Chapter 5 describes the corporations and their stratospheric balloon
businesses and applications.
2.5.1 Loon
One commercial company, Loon LLC or just Loon, has launched hundreds of balloons to the stratosphere. The record of 223 days aloft set by one such flight could
easily be broken in the near future. Loon’s purpose is to fly a balloon to provide
internet services to specific areas. As such they carry a well-designed flight system
with a Raven Aerostar Super-Pressure Balloon. There have been hundreds of
flights up thru 2020. For details see Section 2.5.4. and Section 5.1.
2.5.2 World View Enterprises
Another company, World View Enterprises located in Tucson, AZ, has several
potential business applications involving different flight systems designs. Their
primary design is the Stratollite system. This includes a primary super-pressure
balloon and two small externally mounted balloons that provide ballast control.
There is a standardized version for other customers and applications. Currently,
they are planning to fly high resolution optical, infrared and radar missions.
The typical balloon is 40 m (131 ft) tall and 23 m (75 ft) across; three times the
size of the Loon balloon. They carry about 500 kg (1,100 lb) of equipment that
includes batteries, solar panels, flight control electronics, tanks, heaters, a GPS
transponder (to alert other aircraft as it ascends and descends through commercial
airspace), 50-100 kg (110-220 lb) of cameras or other cargo, and a parachute to
return everything to Earth at the end of the mission. See Section 5.2 for further
details.
2.5.3 Space Perspective
World View has launched a new venture called the Space Perspective which will
use those same massive balloons discussed above to fly customers up to 100,000
feet, or close to 19 miles high. This business is still in the formative stages. Eight
passengers and a pilot will ride in a special Neptune capsule launched from Cape
Canaveral to experience “near space” in relative comfort and then use a parafoil
type chute to splash down in the Atlantic Ocean or the Gulf of Mexico. They are
considering recovery methods similar to SpaceX’s recovery of rockets. This will
require modifications to the World View Stratollite balloon. See Section 3.3 and
Section 5.3 for more details.
26 Stratospheric Balloon Descriptions
are providing services to the military or law enforcement.
This section only provides an introduction to those companies that manufacture
and/or provide balloons for their own endeavors, or to government agencies and
universities. Chapter 5 describes the corporations and their stratospheric balloon
businesses and applications.
2.5.1 Loon
One commercial company, Loon LLC or just Loon, has launched hundreds of balloons to the stratosphere. The record of 223 days aloft set by one such flight could
easily be broken in the near future. Loon’s purpose is to fly a balloon to provide
internet services to specific areas. As such they carry a well-designed flight system
with a Raven Aerostar Super-Pressure Balloon. There have been hundreds of
flights up thru 2020. For details see Section 2.5.4. and Section 5.1.
2.5.2 World View Enterprises
Another company, World View Enterprises located in Tucson, AZ, has several
potential business applications involving different flight systems designs. Their
primary design is the Stratollite system. This includes a primary super-pressure
balloon and two small externally mounted balloons that provide ballast control.
There is a standardized version for other customers and applications. Currently,
they are planning to fly high resolution optical, infrared and radar missions.
The typical balloon is 40 m (131 ft) tall and 23 m (75 ft) across; three times the
size of the Loon balloon. They carry about 500 kg (1,100 lb) of equipment that
includes batteries, solar panels, flight control electronics, tanks, heaters, a GPS
transponder (to alert other aircraft as it ascends and descends through commercial
airspace), 50-100 kg (110-220 lb) of cameras or other cargo, and a parachute to
return everything to Earth at the end of the mission. See Section 5.2 for further
details.
2.5.3 Space Perspective
World View has launched a new venture called the Space Perspective which will
use those same massive balloons discussed above to fly customers up to 100,000
feet, or close to 19 miles high. This business is still in the formative stages. Eight
passengers and a pilot will ride in a special Neptune capsule launched from Cape
Canaveral to experience “near space” in relative comfort and then use a parafoil
type chute to splash down in the Atlantic Ocean or the Gulf of Mexico. They are
considering recovery methods similar to SpaceX’s recovery of rockets. This will
require modifications to the World View Stratollite balloon. See Section 3.3 and
Section 5.3 for more details.
26 Stratospheric Balloon Descriptions