balloon

Near Space Labs closes $13M Series A to send more Earth-imaging robots to the stratosphere

The decreasing cost of launch and a slew of other tech innovations have brought about a renaissance in geospatial intelligence, with multiple startups aiming to capture higher-quality and more frequen

Loon’s stratospheric balloons are now teaching themselves to fly better thanks to Google AI

Alphabet’s Loon has been using algorithmic processes to optimize the flight of its stratospheric balloons for years now — and setting records for time spent aloft as a result. But the comp

Loon sets stratospheric sustained flight record with 312-day balloon trip

Alphabet’s Loon, the company focused on creating new networking capabilities using stratosphere-based infrastructure, has set a new world record for a continuous stratospheric flight. One of Loo

NOAA and World View partner on stratospheric composition research

Arizona-based high-altitude balloon startup World View has a new partnership with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to help the latter collect data to help it deepen its study

NASA to fly a football stadium-sized high-altitude balloon to study light from newborn stars

NASA’s latest mission won’t actually reach space — but it will come very close, with a massive observation craft made up of a football stadium-sized high-altitude balloon, along with

Near Space Labs expands high-altitude Earth imagery to Texas and ramps remote deployment

The ongoing COVID-19 crisis has had a number of unexpected impacts on global economic activity — most of them negative. But the pandemic has also highlighted the need for alternative solutions to ch

Loon signs deal to expand commercial internet service to Mozambique

Loon, the Alphabet-owned company that’s using stratospheric balloons to provide high-speed bandwidth to hard-to-serve areas without strong ground infrastructure, has signed a new deal with carri

The space in between: The stratosphere

We have airplanes and drones in our airspace and satellites in space, but what about the space in between: the stratosphere?

NASA launches a new planet-hunting telescope using a giant balloon

A new telescope will seek out planets that resemble Earth from a height of around 125,000 feet, using special optical technology that will filter out light from the stars they orbit to provide a bette

World View’s high-altitude Stratollite balloons capture some great images

Pioneering near-space company World View is showing off what its so-called ‘stratollite’ balloons can do with a simple, off-the-shelf imaging sensor and a view of Earth from between 65,000

Allurion offers gastric bypass surgery in a pill

Just swallow a pill and it expands into a balloon in your stomach so you don’t feel hungry. No gastric bypass, no surgery required. Sounds magical, but Boston-based Allurion has created the on

Arizona Votes To Build Spaceport For Space Ballooning

The high altitude balloon company World View Enterprises reached an important milestone today, when Arizona’s Pima County voted to award them a $14.5 million deal to build a spaceport. Jane Poynter,

Tom Swift and the Silver Space Balloon or A Father's Lament

I’ve purposely avoided watching much more about the Balloon Boy, Falcon Heene, simply because the story is so ludicrous on its face. When you boil it down, you have an odd family who built what