FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Aerostar Achieves Monumental Milestone: Three Years of Continuous Stratospheric Operations
Sioux Falls, South Dakota, USA (December 23, 2025)
Aerostar today announced a major operational milestone: three years (1,096 consecutive days) of continuous stratospheric operations. This achievement underscores Aerostar’s commitment to connecting, protecting, and saving lives through long-endurance, high-altitude flight.
Since December 12, 2022, Aerostar has maintained uninterrupted stratospheric operations, with platforms on mission somewhere in the world every single day. Over this period, Aerostar balloons have traveled hundreds of thousands of nautical miles, contributing to more than two million flight hours in the stratosphere and demonstrating operational success across all seven continents.
Aerostar systems have repeatedly achieved long-duration flights, with typical missions approaching 100 days. Aerostar’s HBAL684 set a world record in 2025 with a 336-day continuous flight - the longest ever for a controllable stratospheric vehicle.
Aerostar’s continuous stratospheric operations have supported a wide array of government, defense, and research missions. Aerostar has delivered persistent LTE coverage and real-time infrared imaging through NASA’s STRATO project, connecting wildland firefighters during active burns.
The company has also supported Department of Defense missions including over-the-horizon communications for unmanned aircraft systems, maritime domain awareness via optical and electronic sensors, and a variety of tactical and mesh datalinks. In addition, Aerostar balloons continue to enable key environmental and scientific missions, including methane monitoring and atmospheric research, contributing to improved understanding and management of Earth systems.
Aerostar’s Thunderhead high-altitude balloon system, paired with its Thunderstorm mission modeling software, enables controlled flight above 70,000 feet, providing precision navigation and extended station-keeping capabilities crucial to mission success across these applications.
“Three years of continuous operations shows that the stratosphere is no longer experimental - it’s operational,” said Russ Van Der Werff, Vice President of Stratospheric Solutions at Aerostar. “I’m incredibly proud of the engineers, operators, and partners whose everyday discipline and commitment make this level of reliability possible.”
For more information about Aerostar and its stratospheric innovations, 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