"The performance of the Aerostar balloons has been outstanding. The scientists are elated with the altitude profiles. It's clear that Aerostar's commitment to quality is paying dividends to the science community. These balloons are absolutely perfect."
- Danny Ball, Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility Site Manager
Ultra Long Duration Missions
Raven Aerostar's Super Pressure Balloon design and development has made long-duration missions in the stratosphere possible. The balloon is designed to be pressurized during both day and night operations, providing greater stability at float altitude and allowing for ground-breaking scientific, engineering and communication advances. These balloons can carry up to 6,000 pounds of payload to 130,000 feet (24.6 miles) above sea level and range in sizes up to 40 million cubic feet when they reach their preferred altitude.
Scientific data collection
Research and development of sensors
High altitude balloons increase the line of sight (LOS) performance of sensors integrated on the balloon, providing increased detection, recognition and identification capabilities.
Solving Great Challenges
Raven Aerostar has been quietly involved in the cutting edge of lighter-than-air technology since the late-1940s.
Temperatures at altitude can routinely reach temperatures as cold as -80 degrees Celsius. The material used in Raven Aerostar’s Super Pressure Balloons is made with a special formulation of polyethylene film that retains its strength, helium permeability and ductility at extreme altitudes. The design and materials used are uniform in thickness and possess outstanding heat seal ability.
Full Range of Capabilities
Raven Aerostar balloons are used in applications where reliability is critical. Raven Aerostar’s flight operations systems and crews have an impressive success rate in conducting flight operations for customers. In dozens of flight operations per year, virtually every customer payload has been successfully flown and returned to the customer for data analysis. We have a success rate of over 95% with NASA’s payloads of over 6,000 pounds.
For decades, Raven Aerostar has been on the forefront of high-altitude research and has a distinguished history of collaborating with university, scientific and military partners.
A seven million cubic foot prototype Super Pressure Balloon, built by Raven Aerostar for NASA's Balloon program, surpassed 50 days of near-constant altitude flight over the Antarctic Continent. The design team was comprised of engineers from Aerostar, NASA, CSBF (Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility), and a team of international consultants. More Information
Raven Aerostar announced the successful flights of multiple stratospheric balloons, including the Raven manufactured Super Pressure Balloon, manufactured for NASA. For more than 3 weeks it flew at a consistent altitude of 111,000 feet with a deviation of less than 500 feet. While the balloon was showing no signs of stress, NASA brought the balloon down to ensure ease of recoverability of the payload.
Google and Raven Aerostar announced their collaboration to provide high-speed wireless Internet accessibility to rural, remote and underserved areas. Called Project Loon, this innovative solution utilizes Raven Aerostar Super Pressure Balloons as well as the flight control system that guides the balloon safely throughout its mission.
Highly Engineered, Technologically Manufactured
At altitude, Super Pressure Balloons maintain a pressure higher than that of the external atmosphere. The film used in the manufacture of Raven Aerostar Super Pressure Balloons allows pressure changes through the diurnal cycle, maintaining a longer, more constant altitude. At flight termination, the balloon’s destruct device rapidly deflates the balloon, and a Raven Aerostar parachute is employed to recover the payload.
Super Pressure Balloon Benefits
Quick response times
Ultra long duration flights
Near unlimited launch sites
Fully recoverable payloads