Following some early successes with ground and flight tests, Night Crew Labs launched a high-altitude balloon carrying two remote sensing weather payloads skyward. We flew this mission on the morning of January 6, 2019 by San Luis Reservoir, California. It was a very calm, windless day, ideal for a high-altitude balloon flight. The balloon reached a peak altitude of 90,928 ft (27.7 km), capturing some beautiful views of our Blue Marble before bursting. This was the first flight we sent a GoPro Hero 7 to the edge of space – we were very impressed with the stabilized video that was captured.

The objective of the flight was to gather raw GNSS measurements at 60,000+ feet from setting GNSS satellites. This effort helped us determine the feasibility of this technology on a high-altitude balloon platform and meet the goals set forth in our contract with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The results from this flight were very promising and we’re ready to continue our research and development effort with GNSS radio occultation on high-altitude balloon platforms.

Enjoy a video of the mission below.