NASA is set to begin launch operations mid-May for the 2024 Sweden Long-Duration Scientific Balloon Campaign. Four stadium-sized, scientific balloons carrying science missions and technology demonstrations are scheduled to lift off from Swedish Space Corporation’s Esrange Space Center, situated north of the Arctic Circle near Kiruna, Sweden. The campaign will continue through early July.
Sept. 3, 2024: After further analysis of the 60 million-cubic-foot balloon (60 MCF) test flight, it was determined that the balloon reached a maximum float altitude of 160,667 feet − a new NASA record for a balloon flight out of Sweden. The 60 MCF balloon was carrying the BOOMS (Balloon Observation of Microburst Scales) payload.
July 17, 2024: The final two balloon missions for the Sweden Long-Duration Scientific Balloon Campaign safely landed in Canada on Tuesday, July 16, marking the conclusion of all flights for the campaign. The BOOMS (Balloon Observation of Microburst Scales) mission on a test flight of the 60 million-cubic-foot balloon (60 MCF) was ended at 11:55 a.m. EDT and had a total flight time of 3 days, 2 hours, 4 minutes. The balloon and payload had reached a float altitude of 157,008 feet during the flight. The SUNRISE-III mission was ended at 2:20 p.m. EDT with a total flight time of 6 days, 14 hours, 46 minutes. Plans for recovery are underway.
July 15, 2024: The XL-Calibur balloon mission was safely ended in Canada at 6:34 p.m. EDT, Sunday, July 14, after science requirements were met. XL-Calibur remained at float for 5 days, 16 hours, and 2 minutes before safely landing. The science team reports successful X-ray imaging of multiple science sources and collection of data. The SUNRISE-III and BOOMS missions remain in flight.
July 13, 2024: The fourth and final mission of NASA’s 2024 Sweden Long-Duration Scientific Balloon Campaign has launched from Esrange Space Center in Kiruna, Sweden. The BOOMS (Balloon Observation of Microburst Scales) mission took flight at 4:39 p.m. CEST, Saturday, July 13 (10:39 a.m. in U.S. Eastern time). BOOMS is on a test flight of NASA’s Big 60, or 60 million-cubic-foot balloon, the largest zero-pressure balloon in NASA’s current stratospheric inventory. The balloon and payload have currently ascended to a float altitude of nearly 114,000 feet and are performing nominally. To track Big 60/BOOMS and the remaining Sweden campaign missions in flight, visit NASA’s Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility website here.
July 10, 2024: The SUNRISE-III balloon mission successfully lifted off at 6:22 a.m. CEST, Wednesday, July 10 (12:22 a.m., July 10 in U.S. Eastern time) from the balloon launch range at Esrange Space Center in Sweden. The balloon and payload are currently at a float altitude of nearly 123,000 feet on a path toward Canada. The flight can be tracked here. The final mission of the campaign, BOOMS, remains flight ready.
July 9, 2024: The XL-Calibur balloon mission launched at 5:04 a.m. CEST, Tuesday, July 9 (11:04 p.m., July 8 in U.S. Eastern time) from Kiruna, Sweden. This is the second balloon mission to launch during the Sweden long-duration balloon campaign. The balloon and payload are performing nominally at an altitude around 129,000 feet and will proceed on a course to Canada. The mission can be tracked here. The SUNRISE-III and BOOMS missions remain flight ready and await next launch opportunities.
June 5, 2024: The HELIX (High-Energy Light Isotope eXperiment) balloon mission ended 7:27 a.m. EDT, Monday, June 3, after a successful mission into northern Canada. HELIX remained in flight for 6 days, 8 hours, 27 minutes, exceeding minimum science requirements. The payload descended by parachute landing safely. Recovery plans for the balloon and payload are underway. The XL-Calibur, SUNRISE-III, and BOOMS missions remain ready for the next flights in the campaign.
May 28, 2024: NASA’s Balloon Program successfully launched the first mission of its 2024 Sweden Long-Duration Scientific Balloon Campaign from Kiruna, Sweden. The HELIX (High-Energy Light Isotope eXperiment) balloon mission took flight 5:20 a.m. CEST, Tuesday, May 28 (11:20 p.m., May 27 in U.S. Eastern time) from the launch range at Swedish Space Corporation’s Esrange Space Center. HELIX has reached a float altitude of nearly 120,000 feet and can be tracked here.
NASA is set to begin launch operations mid-May for the 2024 Sweden Long-Duration Scientific Balloon Campaign. Four stadium-sized, scientific balloons carrying science missions and technology demonstrations are scheduled to lift off from Swedish Space Corporation’s Esrange Space Center, situated north of the Arctic Circle near Kiruna, Sweden. The campaign will continue through early July.
“NASA’s Balloon Program is excited to conduct our long-duration balloon campaign from Sweden this year,” said Andrew Hamilton, acting director of NASA’s Balloon Program Office. “Our partnership with the Swedish Space Corporation is valuable to NASA and the scientific community by allowing us to use their high-quality facilities at Esrange.”
Esrange, located in a vast unpopulated area in the northernmost part of Sweden, is an ideal location for the campaign. This area in Sweden’s polar region experiences constant daylight during summer. NASA’s zero-pressure balloons, used during the campaign, typically experience gas loss during the warming and cooling of the day to night cycle. However, they can perform long-duration flights in the constant sunlight of a polar region. “The location of the launch range and the stratospheric winds allow for excellent flight conditions to gather many days of scientific data as the balloons traverse from Sweden to northern Canada,” said Hamilton.
Four primary missions on deck for the Sweden campaign include:
- HELIX (High-Energy Light Isotope eXperiment): A balloon-borne experiment that features a powerful superconducting magnet designed to measure the flux of high-energy cosmic ray isotopes to energies that have not been explored. The measurements will help determine the age of cosmic rays in our galaxy.
- BOOMS (Balloon Observation of Microburst Scales): A high-resolution imager of X-rays from energetic electron microbursts that appear in the polar atmosphere. The mission will fly on a 60 million cubic feet balloon, a test flight set to qualify the balloon for reaching altitudes greater than 150,000 feet, which is higher than NASA’s current stratospheric inventory.
- SUNRISE-III: A solar observatory that takes high-resolution imaging and spectro-polarimetry of layers of the Sun called the solar photosphere and chromosphere, and active regions to measure magnetic field, temperature, and velocities with high height temporal resolution.
- XL-Calibur: A telescope that will observe a sample of galactic black hole and neutron star sources to gain new insight on how these objects accelerate electrons and emit X-rays.
Piggyback missions, or smaller payloads, sharing a ride on the XL-Calibur balloon flight include:
- IRCSP (Infrared Channeled Spectro-Polarimeter): A technology development mission for high-altitude spectro-polarimetric measurements of cloud tops to help improve measurements of the size and shape of ice particles, which are crucial in understanding weather and improving climate models.
- WALRUSS (Wallops Atmospheric Light Radiation and Ultraviolet Spectrum Sensor): A technology development mission for a sensor package capable of measuring the total ultraviolet (UV) − split among UVA, UVB, and UVC wavelengths − and ozone concentration.
NASA’s scientific balloons are a quick and cost-effective way to test, track, and recover scientific experiments for NASA and universities from all over the world. These heavy-lift balloons offer near-space access for suspended payloads weighing up to 8,000 pounds.
NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia manages the agency’s scientific balloon flight program with 10 to 15 flights each year from launch sites worldwide. Peraton, which operates NASA’s Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility (CSBF) in Texas, provides mission planning, engineering services, and field operations for NASA’s scientific balloon program. The CSBF team has launched more than 1,700 scientific balloons over some 40 years of operations. NASA’s balloons are fabricated by Aerostar. The NASA Scientific Balloon Program is funded by the NASA Headquarters Science Mission Directorate Astrophysics Division.
For mission tracking, click here. For more information on NASA’s Scientific Balloon Program, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/scientificballoons.
NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility, Wallops Island, Va.
