World View Partners With Space Environment Technologies to Collect Scientific Data on Earth’s Stratosphere
World View, a stratospheric ballooning and space tourism company, has partnered with Space Environment Technologies (SET) to collect radiation and atmospheric data on its space capsules during test and commercial flights from 2023 to 2024.
SET’s technology, Automated Radiation Measurements for Aerospace Safety (ARMAS), will measure charged particles and high-energy photons at varying altitudes in the atmosphere and the stratosphere. The technology uses an innovative approach with a dosimeter sensor to improve Earth science research and aerospace safety. The ARMAS data collected during the flights will be retrieved in real-time, downlinked to the ground, and used in the validated Nowcast of Atmospheric Ionizing Radiation for Aerospace Safety (NAIRAS) modeled radiation environment.
World View and SET hope to use the data to improve understanding of the stratosphere, Earth's high-altitude environments, and radiation exposure by flying in lower radiation regions or spending less time in higher radiation locations. Data collected will also be made available to the scientific community to advance general knowledge about this vulnerable part of Earth. The partnership allows for ARMAS stratospheric balloon flight, which will open the door to understanding regions of the atmosphere that are infrequently observed. This will help understand how to reduce radiation exposure for commercial passengers’ stratospheric travel as well as space flight within the next five years.
