International issues for global balloon flights Original Research Article

Superpressure balloons fabricated from strong, light-weight films offer the possibility for an observational platform that can accommodate scientific instruments up to 1 ton for 100 days at altitudes above 99.5% of the Earthʹs atmosphere. A balloon flight of such long duration would circumnavigate the Earth several times and, depending on the latitude of the trajectory, cross a varying number of international boundaries. Allowed flight trajectories will be constrained by the need for international agreements to fly over sovereign territories. Global ballooning is inherently an international activity, with complex issues to overcome. Those issues will have to be resolved for scientists to reap the benefits of more frequent access to near-space offered by global ballooning. Super-pressure balloon missions are very cost effective compared to orbital missions, so a concerted effort by the international scientific community should be undertaken now to facilitate and utilize this new capability.