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

The last time we learned about World View, the company made a real publicity stunt by launching a KFC chicken sandwich in the stratosphere with its balloon technology. The Arizona-based company has now taken an important step in developing its remote sensing system for practical applications.

Prior to last month, the Stratollite system had never flown more than five days in a row. But from mid-May to early June, he completed a 16-day mission that demonstrated several key capabilities. The company said that for more than eight days, the balloon had maintained its position over a circular ground area of ​​about 120 km wide. He also stood on a circle with a diameter of only 9.5 km for 6.5 hours.

Flying in the stratosphere at altitudes between 15 and 23 km, a Stratollite uses a primary balloon to reach its maximum altitude then uses secondary balloons to ascend and descend rapidly in the stratosphere. Essentially, while driving the winds, the vehicle tries to maintain a relatively stable position on Earth.

In the hold position, the payload of a Stratollite (usually a camera, communications equipment or other remote sensing equipment) allows customers to make persistent observations in near real time over large areas of the Earth. interest. The company will be able to deploy stratollites around the world, "said Ryan Hartman, President and CEO of World View.

Business look

In an interview with Ars, Hartman said the recent test was "the culmination of a year-long hard work at World View," which included maturing subsystems, demonstrating Vehicle and jump short flights to a mission of several weeks. The company hopes to be able to complete 30- and 60-day missions by the end of the year and start offering a commercial service by 2020.

The Stratollite vehicle offers greater persistence on a given location and higher quality images than satellites in low Earth orbit, Hartman added, as well as lower costs and longer flight times than high altitude drones. "We are in touch with our customers today and they are looking forward to bringing this capacity to the market," he said. At the end of 2018, the company closed with $ 26.5 million in Series C financing and Hartman claims to have sufficient capital to reach a commercial operation.

At the moment, the company's facility controllers in Tucson, Arizona, are managing the theft of a Stratollite in order to find the most optimal altitudes to maintain its position above the ground. After World View proved the capacity of the system, Hartman said the company planned to automate the control of each stratollite so that they could use their built-in sensors and a flight computer for the most part. missions.

After a flight, the Stratollite vehicle performs a controlled descent so that it can be retrieved and resumed. In the case of last month's flight, the Stratollite traveled nearly 5,000 km in Arizona, Nevada, Utah and Oregon before landing within 120 meters of a targeted site.

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