An overview of the NASA Sounding Rockets and Balloon Programs

The U. S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Sounding Rockets and Balloon Programs conduct a total of 50 to 60 missions per year in support of the NASA scientific community. The NASA Sounding Rockets Program supports the science community by integrating their experiments into the sounding rocket payload, and providing both the rocket vehicle and launch operations. Sounding rockets provide an effective way to make in situ observations from 50 to 1500 km in altitude with unique coverage of the altitude regime between 50 km and 130 km, which is not accessible by balloons or satellites. The NASA Balloon Program continues to develop new technologies in its support of the scientific ballooning community. The Long Duration Balloon (LDB) is a prominent aspect of the program with campaigns supported in both the northern and southern hemispheres. NASA continues with its development of an Ultra Long Duration Balloon (ULDB) capability for the support of 100-day missions. The Program continues to introduce new technology and improvements in flight systems, ground systems and operations capabilities.