FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 14, 2024
Aerostar Thunderhead Balloon System Achieves 200 Days of Flight in the Stratosphere
Sioux Falls, SD – October 14, 2024 – Today an Aerostar Thunderhead Balloon achieved 200 days of stratospheric flight. The balloon, identified as HBAL 676, manufactured by Aerostar International LLC in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, was launched from New Mexico on March 28, 2024 to conduct research and development activities associated with navigation. Since then, HBAL 676 has travelled more than 50,750 nautical miles and continues to be navigated by operators using Aerostar’s machine-learning enabled wind models and Thunderstorm software.
Over the past decade, advances from the commercial sector in the areas of materials, navigation, solar technology, batteries, beyond line-of-sight communication, and software have increased the operating range and endurance of high-altitude balloons and expanded potential use-cases. Aerostar Thunderhead balloons have been used to perform a diverse range of objectives, from facilitating crucial scientific endeavors for NASA to monitoring methane emissions in the Permian Basin and providing sensing and signal collection for the U.S. Department of Defense.
On the significance of this achievement, Russ Van Der Werff, Aerostar Vice President of Stratospheric Solutions remarked, "The Aerostar team has worked hard to achieve this milestone, combining continuous manufacturing quality improvement, a commitment to operational excellence, specialized flight electronics design, and groundbreaking wind modeling algorithms. Thunderhead's cost-effective ability to provide sensing and communication is a truly an unmatched capability in aviation today!”
With hundreds of flights every year, Aerostar has exceeded more than 2 million total flight hours in the stratosphere and operated over all seven continents. Aerostar’s dedicated Flight Operations Team operates balloons 24x7 world-wide, with a system airborne every day since December 12, 2022. This achievement of constant balloon operations for the past 673 days, combined with a single system operating for 200 days continuously, clearly demonstrates the maturity of both Aerostar’s technology and operations.
The company plans to continue refining what can be accomplished with their Thunderhead Balloon Systems, with further flights and operational deployments anticipated in the near future. For more information about Aerostar Thunderhead Balloon systems, please visit www.aerostar.com
About Aerostar
With nearly 70 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. Learn more at www.aerostar.com. 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
