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NASA Scientific Balloons

New Mexico Scientific Balloon Campaign Update- Sept. 4

The High-Altitude Student Platform 2 (HASP2) successfully launched at 8:28 a.m. MDT (10:28 a.m. EDT) Thursday, Sept. 4 and reached a float altitude of nearly 122,000 feet. HASP remained in flight for a total of 11 hours,40 minutes. Science reports a successful flight. The balloon and payload have safely landed, and recovery efforts are underway.

The HASP2 program is a collaborative effort between Louisiana Space Grant Consortium at Louisiana State University (LaSPACE – LSU), NASA SMD: Astrophysics Division, NASA Balloon Program Office (BPO) and the Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility (CSBF) to develop and operate an inexpensive platform that can be used to flight test compact satellites, prototypes and other small payloads designed and built by students. The High Altitude Student Platform 2 (HASP2) is designed to carry up to twenty-four (24) student payloads at a time to an altitude of about 110,000 feet with flight durations of 15 to 20 hours.

Student Payloads and Organizations for 2025 include:

  • Big Red Sat 1.5 – The University of Nebraska Lincoln
  • STRAINS 4.0 – Sint-Pieters College Jett
  • Bat Sat – University of Colorado, Colorado Springs
  • FLC Ionizing Radiation vs Solar Insolation (IRSI) Experiment – Fort Lewis College
  • Strato Sentinal – University of Boston Massachusetts
  • Ozone Sensors Payload – University of North Florida
  • Astrolab – Universidad Nacional de Ingeniería
  • Spectra Solis – College of the Canyons
  • Astro Tracker II – Universidad Nacional de Ingeniería
  • MSTRI – McMaster University
  •  OLIMPO – Universidad Nacional de Ingeniería

New Mexico Scientific Balloon Campaign Update- Aug. 21

Aug. 21, 2025: The Salter Test Flight launched at 9:21 a.m. EDT (7:21 a.m. MDT) Thursday, Aug. 21 from the agency’s balloon launch facility, marking the first successful balloon flight of the campaign. The balloon and payload reached a float altitude of 124,000 feet, and flew for a total of 5 hours, 4 minutes. The hardware test flight reported a healthy balloon and flight systems, and requirements were met before successful termination. Several smaller payloads, or piggyback missions, rode along to support science and technology development, including numerous student experiments. Recovery efforts are underway.  

Aerial view of a high-altitude scientific balloon launch preparation in a desert setting at sunset. The white balloon is partially inflated and tethered to a launch vehicle, with support vehicles and personnel positioned around the launch area on a cracked desert surface
NASA's high-altitude scientific balloon being prepared for launch at Fort Sumner, N.M., during the agency's 2024 fall balloon campaign. The mission carried research instruments to the stratosphere to conduct experiments above 99.5% of Earth's atmosphere.
NASA/Francis Reddy