SuperBIT

Superpressure Balloon-borne Space Telescope

Contact: Richard Massey

For <1% the cost of a satellite, SuperBIT rises above 99% of the Earth’s atmosphere under a giant helium balloon that swells to the size of a football stadium in near vacuum. At 35km altitude (three times higher than a plane), it is effectively in space.

There is an opportunity to piggy back test equipment on regular flights to near-space (40km altitude, above 99.5% atmosphere). The hardware is recovered by parachute, for closed-loop development.