Aerostar: 500 Days in the Stratosphere and Counting!
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Aerostar Achieves Monumental Milestone: 500 Consecutive Days of Stratospheric Operations
April 25, 2024---Sioux Falls, South Dakota, USA---Aerostar, a pioneering leader in stratospheric exploration and innovation, proudly announces a historic achievement: 500 consecutive days of operations in the stratosphere. This remarkable feat underscores Aerostar's unwavering commitment to pushing the boundaries of aerospace technology and advancing scientific research.
With high altitude balloons aloft somewhere in the world every single day from December 12, 2022 to April 25, 2024, Aerostar demonstrated persistent operations in the stratosphere and covered more than 265,936 nautical miles. With more than 2 million total flight hours in the stratosphere, successful missions over all seven continents, and single balloon flights exceeding 150 days duration, Aerostar has proven global reach and capabilities to operate in diverse environments.
These missions have encompassed a diverse range of objectives, from facilitating crucial scientific endeavors for NASA to monitoring methane emissions in the Permian Basin and sensing and signal collection for the U.S. Department of Defense. Aerostar is also engaged in efforts to provide connectivity to firefighters operating in austere environments and to restore cellular coverage in the wake of natural disasters. Aerostar’s Thunderhead high-altitude balloon system, combined with our Thunderstorm mission modeling software has enabled continuous, controlled flights at altitudes over 70,000 feet.
On the significance of these achievements, Russ Van Der Werff, Aerostar Vice President of Stratospheric Solutions remarked, "Persistent, long-duration flight with precision navigation is key to unlocking the potential of the stratosphere. Aerostar is committed to continuing to mature our stratospheric platforms, which are already connecting, protecting, and saving lives worldwide!"
For more information about Aerostar and its groundbreaking initiatives, please visit aerostar.com
About Aerostar
With more than 65 years of lighter-than-air innovation and expertise, Aerostar is dedicated to connecting, protecting, and saving lives. Headquartered in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, Aerostar provides world-leading solutions in the aerospace and defense market, focused on stratospheric balloon systems and radar solutions.
Aerostar is part of the TCOM portfolio of aerospace and defense companies.
For Media Inquiries:
Anastasia Quanbeck
Director of Culture and Communications Aerostar International, LLC
anastasia.quanbeck@aerostar.com
605-910-4853