Navigating the Stratosphere

While stratospheric balloons have been around for nearly a century, only recently have they been able to maneuver in altitude to take advantage of the diverse winds available in the stratosphere. Aerostar designs, builds, launches and operates balloons in the stratosphere to perform various tasks such as communication and remote sensing. Both zero pressure balloons and super pressure balloons are employed to accomplish these tasks. Zero pressure balloons are cheaper due to their simplicity, but are limited on how long they can remain aloft to two to four days. While super pressure balloons are more expensive, they can remain in the air for many months. Each of these types of balloons are maneuvered up and down to accomplish their navigation objectives, such as reaching a target or loitering around a target. To navigate effectively, it's important to predict what the winds are doing at the available altitudes. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) produces a numerical weather model, the Global Forecast System (GFS), that provides a rough estimate of which direction and speed the winds are blowing at a few altitudes in the stratosphere, but more accuracy is needed to effectively navigate in the stratosphere. A four-dimensional Gaussian Process (GP) model was developed to provide more accuracy near currently flying balloons, which includes radiosondes. The GP combined with the GFS, enables other tools to better predict where balloons can navigate.