World View flies its remote sensing balloon for 16 days and 5,000km

Arizona-based company, World View, has completed a 16-day mission with its Stratollite® system, demonstrating several key abilities that are significant in developing its remote sensing system for practical applications.

The system uses a primary lift balloon to reach its peak altitude, and then uses secondary balloons to rapidly rise and fall through the stratosphere. Flying in the stratosphere at altitudes between 15 and 23km, the vehicle attempts to maintain a relatively stable position over the Earth by essentially riding the winds.

For more than eight days, the balloon maintained its position over a circular area on the ground about 120km wide, and held station over a circle with a diameter of just 9.5km for 6.5 hours. The Stratollite system offers greater persistence over a location and higher quality imagery than satellites in low-Earth orbit, along with lower costs and longer-duration of flights than high-altitude drones.

World View's president and chief executive, Ryan Hartman, said that the company hopes to fly 30- and 60-day missions by the end of the year, and to begin offering commercial service in 2020.

After a flight, the Stratollite vehicle makes a controlled descent so that it can be recovered and flown again. In the case of last month's flight, the Stratollite flew nearly 5,000km across Arizona, Nevada, Utah, and Oregon before landing within 120 meters of a targeted site.

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