SBIR Phase II: Mesospheric Sub-orbital Ballooning System

The broader/commercial impact of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project is enabling a new avenue to high-fidelity and long-duration satellite testing at the edge-of-Space, and with it, rapid and reliable satellite missions to Low-Earth-Orbit and beyond. More than 35% of satellites fail at the component, or system level, after their deployment into orbit. Available testing platforms do not meet the industry's needs for rapid and low-cost technology risk reduction, therefore slowing the progress of the race to space. Satellite testing at mesospheric altitudes will increase the reliability of satellite launches, bring down the cost of those satellites, and open a new chapter in the growth of the space industry. This capability is critical for increasing the success rate of space missions. Enabling access to previously unreachable mesospheric regions will unlock new opportunities unknowable today and whose boundaries are yet to be defined. Providing near-space testing services to Space and aviation industries, military divisions, and the telecom industry will save hundreds of millions of dollars lost to deployment failures. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project aims to complete engineering and validation activities for a novel mesospheric ballooning platform to enable faster, less expensive, and long-duration (>hour) access to the mesosphere for providing near-space sub-orbital testing services for satellites and space payloads. Existing mesospheric access is by rocketry. Rocket launches are expensive, mechanically demanding, and allow only a few minutes of sub-orbital access. In their SBIR Phase-I project, the company developed and demonstrated breakthrough concepts for taking balloons to the mesosphere. In this Phase II project, the company will develop a market-ready sub-orbital ballooning platform that can reach those altitudes dependably and cost-effectively for longer duration than currently possible. In addition, flights to the mesosphere will enable new applications for remote sensing, Earth and Space observations, surveillance, weather observations, improved predictions, and more. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.