First successful test flight for BalMan

First successful stratospheric test for the BalMan manoeuvring balloon from Europe’s Spaceport, validating the reliability of the stratospheric balloon’s envelope and flight safety systems in high-altitude conditions. This success attests to HEMERIA's ambition for European leadership in this field, with the support of the French Space Agency. 

This innovative stratospheric manoeuvring balloon project, involving real strategic stakes for France, was launched as part of the France Relance scheme, with the support of the French Defence Procurement Agency (DGA) and the French Space Agency. HEMERIA, the company responsible for designing and developing the balloon, also helped fund this project.

With this new type of manoeuvring balloon, the aim is to control the dependency of the balloon's movements on the wind, in order to control the direction of the system. The aim is to be able to hover above a geographical area of interest, at an altitude of several dozen kilometres, for much longer than a drifting balloon, a plane or even a drone. To do so, the BalMan operators use wind currents at different altitudes to move the balloon horizontally.

With these capabilities, the balloon will benefit a wide range of players, including the defence industry, with applications in meteorology and monitoring of high-risk areas (monitoring fire outbreaks, volcanic eruptions, etc.).

As the incumbent operator of stratospheric balloons in France and internationally, the French Space Agency will be able to offer this new type of aerostat to the scientific community in the future, for the long-term study of sites with high scientific value, both in the field of Earth observation and in the sciences of the universe.
 

This first test flight was an opportunity for Europe’s Spaceport to welcome back French Space Agency balloon release activities, after a 40-year hiatus. The French Space Agency teams based at Europe’s Spaceport were able to provide their expertise on space operations, ground safety and flight safety to the teams involved in BalMan.

Following this successful first test flight, a second flight will take place in 2025. It will test the balloon's manoeuvrability and payload capacity. BalMan has a maximum load capacity of 50 kg. These tests enable the French Space Agency and HEMERIA to move a little closer to operational use of the BalMan after each release.