Altitude Controlled Balloons for Atmospheric Research

Research balloons are one of the most economical and efficient means of carrying scientific payloads into the atmosphere. With their unparalleled combination of altitude range and flight duration, balloon platforms are the workhorse of modern weather forecasting and play a key role in studies of the climate, chemistry, and physics of planetary atmospheres. Recent technological advances promise to further increase the importance balloons and airships in atmospheric research. We present a new altitude-controlled balloon that can be scaled to a wide range of payloads and is capable of extremely long duration flights. Through model analysis and flight data, we demonstrate the utility of this new balloon for tracking air parcels, performing atmospheric soundings, and building satellite-like constellations for environmental monitoring.