World View sees strong interest in stratospheric balloons
World View, a company offering stratospheric balloon flights for research payloads, is pushing ahead with the development of its “stratollite” balloons. The firm plans to increase the flight rate and duration of the balloons, which can remain in the stratosphere for extended periods at a fraction of the cost of satellite missions.
In 2017, the balloons carried research payloads for NASA and commercial clients, as well as a chicken sandwich for a fast food company. The balloons have also recently been used for remote sensing, with World View releasing images taken from altitudes of over 20 km at the Next-Generation Suborbital Researchers Conference. The images were taken using off-the-shelf camera equipment and have a resolution of 50 cm, which the company believes can be improved to as sharp as 10 to 15 cm. World View’s balloons combine the benefits of both satellites and high-altitude aircraft in one platform.
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