Balloon-borne telescope

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NASA super-pressure balloon flight preparation NASA Super Pressure Balloon Begins Globetrotting Journey (26978370252).jpg
NASA super-pressure balloon flight preparation
GUSTO zero-pressure balloon at launch in Antarctica. The gondola is still hanged on the vehicle. GUSTO Scientific Balloon Mission Launch (53468007703).jpg
GUSTO zero-pressure balloon at launch in Antarctica. The gondola is still hanged on the vehicle.

A balloon-borne telescope is a type of airborne telescope, a sub-orbital astronomical telescope that is suspended below one or more stratospheric balloons, allowing it to be lifted above the lower, dense part of the Earth's atmosphere. This has the advantage of improving the resolution limit of the telescope at a much lower cost than for a space telescope. It also allows observation of frequency bands that are blocked by the atmosphere. [1] Multiple cosmic-ray, neutrinos, and particle observatories and detectors were also launched on balloons.

Contents

History

Balloon-borne telescopes have been used for observation from the stratosphere since the Stratoscope I was launched in 1957. [2] A number of different instruments have since been carried aloft by balloons for observation in the infrared, microwave, X-ray and gamma ray bands. The BOOMERanG experiment, flown between 1997–2003, [3] and the MAXIMA, which made flights in 1998 and 1999, [4] were used to map the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation.

Balloons

There are two main types of balloons used for astronomical experiments: zero-pressure and super-pressure balloons. Zero-pressure balloons are open at the bottom and have open ducts hanging from the sides to allow gas to escape and to prevent the pressure inside the balloon from building up during gas expansion as the balloon rises above Earth’s surface. Super-pressure balloons are completely sealed and allow longer flights. [5]

Gondolas

A gondola is the structural platform that suspends beneath a balloon and serves the same function as a spacecraft bus: housing the telescope and instruments, providing power and pointing control, and protecting hardware during launch and landing. It hangs from the balloon via a flight train (a cable-and-rung ladder assembly, typically 50–60 meters long) and must withstand significant mechanical loads, particularly at landing. The frame is usually constructed from aluminum alloy and designed to meet strict structural requirements while remaining as lightweight as possible. [6]

Because the platform hangs from a single point and experiences pendulum oscillations at multiple frequencies, achieving stability requires coordinated control across three axes. Azimuth pointing is accomplished by torquing the entire gondola against a momentum flywheel, with excess angular momentum continuously transferred to the balloon itself. Elevation control uses direct-drive motors on the telescope gimbal, and a separate roll stabilization wheel dampens high-frequency side-to-side oscillations that would otherwise degrade azimuth accuracy. Sensors include inertial measurement units, rotary encoders, and fine-pointing sun sensors that provide closed-loop feedback. [6]

Supporting subsystems include solar arrays with battery backup for power, flight computers for command and autonomous operations, and satellite communication links for ground control. At float altitude (>35 km), atmospheric pressure drops to about 5 mbar, eliminating convective cooling and requiring passive thermal management through surface coatings and insulation. Components are often commercial off-the-shelf hardware qualified through thermal-vacuum testing for the near-space environment. [6]

Launch facilities

NASA research balloon program is supported by the Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility, [7] [8] which can launch balloons from Texas, New Mexico, Alaska, Manitoba (Canada), New Zealand, McMurdo Station (Antarctica), Australia, and Sweden.

Advantages

Overview of wavelengths observable at different altitudes. Openstax Astronomy EM spectrum and atmosphere.jpg
Overview of wavelengths observable at different altitudes.

Balloon-borne telescopes are much cheaper than space telescopes while achieving comparable optical performance. At altitudes around 40 km, atmospheric interference becomes negligible and allows observations in multiple wavelengths. The SuperBIT mission demonstrated that balloon platforms can match Hubble-class image quality for visible wavelengths at a fraction of the cost. Unlike orbital missions, failed balloon payloads can be recovered, repaired, and relaunched, enabling iterative development cycles with simpler designs and rapid integration of improved components such as upgraded camera sensors between flights. SuperBIT, for example, was constructed largely by PhD students who subsequently founded a commercial space technology company. [9] [10]

Balloons also present fewer environmental drawbacks than rocket launches. They require no propellant combustion during ascent, generate no orbital debris, and avoid atmospheric re-entry burn-up at end of life. [9]

Disadvantages

Balloon-borne telescopes have the disadvantage of relatively low altitude and a flight time of only a few days. However, their maximum altitude of about 50 km is much higher than the limiting altitude of aircraft-borne telescopes such as the Kuiper Airborne Observatory and Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, which have a limiting altitude of 15 km. [1] [11] A few balloon-borne telescopes have crash landed, resulting in damage or destruction of the telescope.

The balloon obscures the zenith from the telescope, but a very long suspension can reduce this to a range of 2°. The telescope must be isolated from the induced motion of the stratospheric winds as well as the slow rotation and pendulum motion of the balloon. The azimuth stability can be maintained by a magnetometer, plus a gyroscope or star tracker for shorter term corrections. A three axis mount gives the best control over the tube motion, consisting of an azimuth, elevation and cross-elevation axis. [11]

Missions

NameActiveDescription and purpose
Stratoscope I 1957–5912-inch telescope attached to a polyethylene balloon (Skyhook balloon). [2] This was the first balloon-borne astronomical telescope. [12] It took photographic images of the sun, showing granulation features. In 1959 it was flown again, this time with a television transmitter. [2]
Stratoscope II 1963–7136-inch telescope with a tandem balloon system. [2]
LEE 1968–Low energy electron detector for solar modulation study [13]
THISBE 1973–76Telescope of Heidelberg for Infrared Studies by Balloon-borne Experiments. Infrared telescope used for observations of extended sources, including OH airglow, the zodiacal light, and the central galaxy region. [14]
GRIS 1988-1995Gamma-Ray Imaging Spectrometer
HIREGS 1991–98High-resolution spectrometer for examining gamma ray and hard X-ray emissions from solar flares and galactic sources. It used an array of liquid nitrogen-cooled germanium detectors. [15]
FGE 1995The Flare Genesis Experiment, an 80 cm Sun telescope and a vector magnetograph [16]
QMAP 1996An experiment to measure the anisotropy of the cosmic microwave background
AESOP 1997–Anti-Electron Sub Orbital Payload, a particle detector used to investigate the charge-sign dependence in solar modulation. [13]
BOOMERanG 1997–2003Microwave telescope with cryogenic detectors used to map the cosmic microwave background radiation. [3]
TIGER 1997–2004Trans-Iron Galactic Element Recorder, designed to measure the elemental composition of cosmic rays heavier than iron. [17]
MAXIMA 1998–99Microwave telescope with a cryogenic receiver that was used to measure the CMBR. [4]
Archeops 1999 Cosmic microwave background experiment
ATIC 2000Advanced Thin Ionization Calorimeter, measured the energy and composition of cosmic rays
TopHat 2001An experiment to measure the cosmic microwave background radiation produced 300,000 years after the Big Bang
HERO 2001–10Hard X-ray telescope that flew successfully beginning in 2001 but crashed in 2010, destroying the telescope. [18]
BLAST 2003–Submillimetre telescope with a 2 m aperture. It was destroyed during the third flight, but was rebuilt and completed a fourth flight in 2010. [19]
InFOCμS 2004–Hard X-ray telescope with a 49 cm2 collecting area. [20]
BESS 2004Balloon-borne Experiment with Superconducting Spectrometer designed to search for antimatter in cosmic radiation
CREAM 2004–2019NASA experiment to determine the composition of cosmic rays.
CREST 2005–2011The Cosmic Ray Electron Synchrotron Telescope, an experiment designed to measure the flux of primary cosmic ray electrons at energies greater than 1 TeV. [21]
HEFT 2005Hard X-ray telescope with grazing-incidence optics. [22]
NCT 2005–2010A Compton telescope to observe the gamma-ray sky in the energy range from a few hundred keV to several MeV.
ANITA 2006–2007Antarctic Impulsive Transient Antenna, an ultra-high-energy cosmic neutrinos detector
ARCADE 2006–2011Absolute Radiometer for Cosmology, Astrophysics, and Diffuse Emission, a NASA mission intended to measure the heating of the universe by the first stars and galaxies after the big bang and search for the signal of relic decay or annihilation
TRACER 2007Transition Radiation Array for Cosmic Energetic Radiation, a cosmic ray detector
Sunrise 2009–1 m ultraviolet telescope with image stabilization and adaptive optics for observing the Sun. [23]
EBEX 2009The E and B Experiment, an experiment that measured the cosmic microwave background radiation.
PoGOLite 2011–Telescope for polarised hard X-rays and soft gamma-rays. [24]
GAPS 2012–General AntiParticle Spectrometer, designed for antideuteron search in cosmic rays
BRRISON 2013Balloon Rapid Response for ISON, a NASA mission to study comet C/2012 S1 (ISON).
HEROES 2013High-Energy Replicated Optics for Exploring the Sun, an upgraded version of HERO. [25]
SuperTIGER 2013–2017Super Trans-Iron Galactic Element Recorder, a NASA cosmic ray detector mission [26] [27]
BARREL 2013–2020Balloon Array for Radiation-belt Relativistic Electron Losses, a NASA mission to study X-rays in Earth’s atmosphere near the North and South poles. [28]
BOPPS 2014The Balloon Observation Platform for Planetary Science, a NASA mission which observed Oort Cloud comets, the asteroid Ceres and the double star Castor. [29]
STO 1 and 22014–2016The Stratospheric Terahertz Observatory, a NASA exploratory mission for the GUSTO telescope. [30] [31]
Spider 2015–Submillimeter telescope searching for primordial gravitational waves. [32]
SuperBIT 2015–Near-IR to Near-UV, wide-field, optically diffraction-limited telescope mapping out dark matter distribution in galaxy clusters through weak lensing. [33]
BACCUS 2016The Boron And Carbon Cosmic rays in the Upper Stratosphere, a NASA experiment to study cosmic rays and the chemicals and atoms that make up the interstellar space. [34]
COSI 2016Compton Spectrometer and Imager Science, a Compton telescope for soft gamma-rays [35]
PIPER 2017–Primordial Inflation Polarization Explorer, a NASA mission of twin telescopes super-cooled to near absolute zero for increased sensitivity to detect the faint, remnant heat radiation from the big bang. [36]
ASHI 2021All-Sky Heliospheric Imager, a NASA experiment to test the instrument’s capability to reduce stray light and observe the solar wind from here on Earth. [37]
BALBOA 2021BALloon-Based Observations for sunlit Aurora, a NASA experiment to test a wide-view infrared camera designed to study daytime auroras. [37]
BBC 2021Balloon-borne Chirpsounder, a NASA experiment to measure how the radio signals ping off and through the ionosphere before bouncing back to its detectors. [37]
BOOMS 2021Balloon Observation of Microburst Scales, a NASA experiment to observe microbursts, flashes of X-ray light that sporadically appear in the polar atmosphere. [37]
ComPair 2023ComPair, short for "Compton scattering and pair production". A high-resolution calorimeter to measure lower-energy Compton-scattered gamma rays. [38]
GUSTO 2023Galactic/Extragalactic ULDB Spectroscopic Terahertz Observatory, a NASA mission designed to study the interstellar medium. [39] [40] [41]
EXCITE 2024EXoplanet Climate Infrared TElescope, a NASA mission designed to study atmospheres around exoplanets. [42]
BVEX 2025Balloon Borne Very Large Baseline Interferometry Experiment, an experiment to improve images of the regions around supermassive black holes [43]
PUEO 2025Payload for Ultrahigh Energy Observations, a particle detector for Askaryan emission from neutrinos interacting in the ice, geomagnetic (and Askaryan) emission from tau leptons, and geomagnetic emission from Ultra-High Energy cosmic rays [44]
ASTHROS Future, NET 2026Astrophysics Stratospheric Telescope for High Spectral Resolution Observations at Submillimeter-wavelengths, a NASA mission to research stellar feedback in the Milky Way.
GigaBIT FutureGigapixel-class Balloon-borne Imaging Telescope, a successor to SuperBIT. It will be "a three-mirror anastigmat (TMA) system with a 1.34m primary mirror designed to perform wide-field imaging with diffraction limited resolutions in the near ultraviolet (NUV) over a wide field, giving it a resolution of better than 0.1 arcseconds". [45]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Kitchin, Christopher R. (2003). Astrophysical techniques (4th ed.). CRC Press. p. 83. ISBN   0-7503-0946-6.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Kidd, Stephen (September 17, 1964). "Astronomical ballooning: the Stratoscope program". New Scientist. 23 (409): 702–704. Retrieved 2011-02-28.
  3. 1 2 Masi, S. (2002). "The BOOMERanG experiment and the curvature of the universe". Progress in Particle and Nuclear Physics. 48 (1): 243–261. arXiv: astro-ph/0201137 . Bibcode:2002PrPNP..48..243M. doi:10.1016/S0146-6410(02)00131-X. S2CID   16998444.
  4. 1 2 Rabii, B.; et al. (July 2006). "MAXIMA: A balloon-borne cosmic microwave background anisotropy experiment". Review of Scientific Instruments. 77 (7) 071101. arXiv: astro-ph/0309414 . Bibcode:2006RScI...77g1101R. doi:10.1063/1.2219723. S2CID   16803721.
  5. ↑ "Types of Scientific Balloons". NASA.PD-icon.svg This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .
  6. 1 2 3 Bernasconi, Pietro; et al. (11 August 2025). "The Gondola for the Sunrise iii Balloon-Borne Solar Observatory". Solar Physics. 300 (8): 112. doi:10.1007/s11207-025-02524-x. ISSN   1573-093X.
  7. ↑ "Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility". NASA. Retrieved 26 December 2025.
  8. ↑ "Two NASA Scientific Balloon Launches Planned From Antarctica - NASA". 5 December 2025. Retrieved 26 December 2025.
  9. 1 2 University, Durham. "Balloon-borne experiment Hubble space telescope - Durham University". www.durham.ac.uk.
  10. ↑ "Scientific Balloons Overview". NASA. Retrieved 26 December 2025.
  11. 1 2 Cheng, Jingquan (2009). The principles of astronomical telescope design. Astrophysics and space science library. Vol. 360. Springer. pp. 509–510. ISBN   978-0-387-88790-6.
  12. ↑ Zimmerman, Robert (2010). The universe in a mirror: the saga of the Hubble Telescope and the visionaries who built it. Princeton University Press. p. 18. ISBN   978-0-691-14635-5.
  13. 1 2 "AESOP and LEE: Balloon Payloads".
  14. ↑ Hofmann, W.; Lemke, D.; Thum, C. (May 1977). "Surface brightness of the central region of the Milky Way at 2.4 and 3.4 microns". Astronomy and Astrophysics. 57 (1–2): 111–114. Bibcode:1977A&A....57..111H.
  15. ↑ Boggs, S. E.; et al. (October 2002). "Balloon flight test of pulse shape discrimination (PSD) electronics and background model performance on the HIREGS payload". Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A. 491 (3): 390–401. Bibcode:2002NIMPA.491..390B. doi:10.1016/S0168-9002(02)01228-7.
  16. ↑ Rust, D. M.; Murphy, G.; Strohbehn, K.; Keller, C. U. (December 25, 1996). "Balloon-Borne Polarimetry". In Stenflo, J. O.; Nagendra, K. N. (eds.). Solar Polarization. Springer Netherlands. pp. 403–415. doi:10.1007/978-94-009-0231-2_34. ISBN   978-94-010-6586-3 – via Springer Link.
  17. ↑ "TIGER - NASA's Trans-Iron Galactic Element Recorder". asd.gsfc.nasa.gov.
  18. ↑ Malik, Tariq (April 29, 2010). "Huge NASA Science Balloon Crashes in Australian Outback". space.com. Retrieved 2011-02-28.
  19. ↑ Devlin, Mark. "Balloon-borne Large-Aperture Submillimeter Telescope: home page". blastexperiment. Archived from the original on 2011-06-03. Retrieved 2011-02-28.
  20. ↑ Tueller, J.; et al. (2005). "InFOCμS hard X-ray imaging telescope". Experimental Astronomy. 20 (1–3): 121–129. Bibcode:2005ExA....20..121T. doi:10.1007/s10686-006-9028-3. S2CID   122127514.
  21. ↑ "CREST (Cosmic Ray Electron Synchrotron Telescope) - 12/25/2011". stratocat.com.ar.
  22. ↑ Chen, C. M. Hubert; et al. (September 2006). "In-flight Performance of the Balloon-borne High Energy Focusing Telescope". Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society. 38: 383. Bibcode:2006HEAD....9.1812C.
  23. ↑ Schmidt, W.; et al. (June 2010). "SUNRISE Impressions from a successful science flight". Astronomische Nachrichten. 331 (6): 601. Bibcode:2010AN....331..601S. doi:10.1002/asna.201011383.
  24. ↑ "PoGOLite: home page". Archived from the original on 2014-04-20. Retrieved 2015-06-11.
  25. ↑ "This Week in NASA History: Flight of HEROES – Sept. 21, 2013 - NASA".
  26. ↑ "NASA's Super-Tiger Balloon Breaks Records While Collecting Data - NASA".
  27. ↑ "NASA's SuperTIGER Balloon Flies Again to Study Heavy Cosmic Particles - NASA". December 6, 2017.
  28. ↑ "BARREL". NASA. 21 May 2023.PD-icon.svg This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .
  29. ↑ "NASA Conducts Successful Planetary Science Balloon Mission - NASA".
  30. ↑ "STO2". 17 November 2021.
  31. ↑ "Stratospheric Terahertz Observatory 1&2 | Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian". www.cfa.harvard.edu.
  32. ↑ Crill, B.P.; Ade, P.A.R; Battistelli, E.S. (2008). Oschmann, Jr, Jacobus M; De Graauw, Mattheus W. M; MacEwen, Howard A (eds.). "SPIDER: a balloon-borne large-scale CMB polarimeter". Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2008: Optical, Infrared, and Millimeter. 7010. SPIE: 70102P. arXiv: 0807.1548 . Bibcode:2008SPIE.7010E..2PC. doi:10.1117/12.787446. S2CID   7924096.
  33. ↑ Romualdez, L. Javier; Benton, Steven J.; Brown, Anthony M.; Clark, Paul; Damaren, Christopher J.; Eifler, Tim; Fraisse, Aurelien A.; Galloway, Mathew N.; Gill, Ajay; Hartley, John W.; Holder, Bradley (2020-03-01). "Robust diffraction-limited NIR-to-NUV wide-field imaging from stratospheric balloon-borne platforms -- SuperBIT science telescope commissioning flight & performance". Review of Scientific Instruments. 91 (3): 034501. arXiv: 1911.11210 . doi:10.1063/1.5139711. hdl: 10852/82931 . ISSN   0034-6748. PMID   32259997. S2CID   215409662.
  34. ↑ "Balloons on Ice: NASA Launches Antarctica Scientific Balloon Campaign - NASA". November 29, 2016.
  35. ↑ Pacheco, Luis Eduardo. "COSI (Compton Spectrometer and Imager Science) - 5/16/2016". stratocat.com.ar.
  36. ↑ "PIPER (Primordial Inflation Polarization Explorer)". NASA. 14 November 2023.PD-icon.svg This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .
  37. 1 2 3 4 "Lofted by NASA Balloons, New Experiments Will Study Sun-Earth System - NASA". April 28, 2021.
  38. ↑ "NASA's ComPair Gamma-Ray Hunting Mission Prepares for Balloon Flight - NASA". NASA. 20 July 2023. Retrieved 26 December 2025.
  39. ↑ "NASA Balloon Mission Designed to See the Space Between Stars". NASA.
  40. ↑ "GUSTO". NASA. 21 November 2023.
  41. ↑ "NASA's Balloon Mission GUSTO Mapping the Space Between the Stars | Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory". www.jhuapl.edu.
  42. ↑ "EXCITE (EXoplanet Climate Infrared TElescope)". NASA. 25 November 2024.
  43. ↑ "The Balloon Borne Very Large Baseline Experiment (BVEX) | Queen's University". www.queensu.ca.
  44. ↑ "PUEO About". pueo.space.
  45. ↑ "GigaBIT - Gigapixel-class Balloon-borne Imaging Telescope". www.gigabitastro.com.
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