Scientific ballooning: Past, present and future

Balloons have been used for scientific research since they were invented in France more than 200 years ago. Cosmic rays were discovered 100 years ago with an experiment flown on a manned balloon. A major change in balloon design occurred in 1950 with the introduction of the socalled natural shape balloon with integral load tapes. This basic design has been used with more or less continuously improved materials for scientific balloon flights for the past half century, including long-duration balloon (LDB) flights around Antarctica for the past two decades. The U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is currently developing a super-pressure balloon that would enable extended duration missions above 99.5% of the Earth's atmosphere at any latitude. Ultra-long-duration balloon (ULDB) flights enabled by constant-volume balloons should result in an even greater sea change in scientific ballooning than the inauguration of long-duration balloon (LDB) flights in Antarctica during the 1990-91 austr...