PBJ300 FLIGHT TEST

Balloon launched on: 11/20/2007 at 7:33 local
Launch site: Balloon Launch Sector, Cachoeira Paulista, Brazil  
Balloon launched by: Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais (INPE)
Balloon manufacturer/size/composition: Super Pressure Balloon BJP-300 - 300.000 m3
Balloon serial number: PBJ300
End of flight (L for landing time, W for last contact, otherwise termination time): 11/20/2007
Balloon flight duration (F: time at float only, otherwise total flight time in d:days / h:hours or m:minutes - ): ~ 2 h
Landing site: Engenheiro Passos, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Payload weight: 500 kg

After several tests on the ground and engineering flights of small size super-pressure balloons suspended by another large balloon between 2004 and 2006, Japanese scientists fabricated a 300,000 m3 super-pressure balloon, which can carry a 500 kg payload to an altitude of 35 km.

The 300,000 m3 balloon was tested at Cachoeira Paulista, Brazil, under the INPE/JAXA international scientific balloon collaboration agreement. The objective of the mission was to obtain a one-day engineering flight, in order to verify its day/night performance, but the balloon burst at an altitude of 14.7 km.

An image of the on-board high-definition video camera indicated that the initial damage was located around the collar position. Since the film of the super-pressure balloon is hard compared to the polyethylene film and many load ropes run along the balloon surface, the collar or the spooler might have slightly damaged the film. An improved launching method for super-pressure balloon is now under consideration.

• Japanese Balloon Program .J. Phys. Soc. Jpn. 78 (2009) Suppl. A, pp. 97-100