ISTAR stands for International Science Technology and Research and is a company that offers all the services associated with the launch, flight, operation and recovery of payloads onboard stratospheric balloons. It count with offices in Bend, Oregon, and Colorado Springs.

In 1991, ISTAR began supporting stratospheric research programs utilizing high altitude balloons, while directly supporting a NASA funded ozone investigation in Greenland with a team from Harvard University. In 1992, ISTAR took the field management role of the NASA funded stratospheric balloon program in Antarctica.

From 1992 - 2001, ISTAR successfully managed 14 separate 800,000 m3 balloons from Antarctica and launched over 20 smaller balloons. During that period, ISTAR also managed and lead the recovery team of the payloads and flight hardware.

In 2001, ISTAR was contacted by the Italian Space Agency to manage and lead the development of the first Long Duration Balloon Program in Europe through the University of Rome La Sapienza. ISTAR chose Svalbard, Norway as the launch location and base of the newly formed Nobile/Amundsen Stratospheric Balloon Center in Longyearbyen, Spitsbergen. This effort has resulted in 13 balloon launches since 2003, including the successful 2009 launch of the SORA experiment with 4 piggyback payloads on a 800,000 m3 balloon. ISTAR performed the launch operations without an experienced crew then traveled to Baffin Island, Canada to recovery the payload.

From the start of the Nobile/Amundsen SBC in Svalbard, ISTAR took a primary interest in developing this program to make use of smaller balloons to carry scientific experiments, commercial access to Near Space and as an easy avenue to introduce students to Near Space research. In June of 2006, ISTAR launched the first circumpolar balloon flight of the northern polar region from Svalbard carrying the PEGASO experiment, which measured the flux of the Earth's magnetic field. This balloon made a near perfect circle around the North Pole in 14 days.

ISTAR developed the Italian LDB program in Svalbard, designed and fabricated the radiation shields and equipment stands for the BRAIN experiment, now on location at Concordia Station Antarctica. While in Antarctica, ISTAR launched the first Italian LDB experiment PEGASO from the M.Z. Station at Bay Terra Nova, Antarctica.

Launch base	Date	Flight Duration	Experiment	Payload landing place or cause of the failure
Longyearbyen	6/15/2003	1 d	PATHFINDER - 1	In the Greenland Sea.
Longyearbyen	6/16/2003	1 d	PATHFINDER - 2	In the Greenland Sea.
Longyearbyen	6/19/2003	18 h	PATHFINDER - 3	60 kms away from launch site
Longyearbyen	7/9/2003	5 h	PATHFINDER - 4	15 kms away from launch site
Longyearbyen	7/12/2003	1 h	PATHFINDER - 5	In the sea near launch site
Longyearbyen	7/12/2003	5 d	PATHFINDER - 6	--- No Data ---
Longyearbyen	7/24/2004	38 d	Trailblazer + PEGASO (Polar Explorer for Geomagnetics And other Scientific Observations)	North of russian federation at coordinates 68º 34' N 164º 19' West
Longyearbyen	6/29/2005	25 d	Trailblazer + PEGASO (Polar Explorer for Geomagnetics And other Scientific Observations)	Over international water (pack-ice) at 11:15 utc at 80º 46,743' N - 107º 18.276' E
Longyearbyen	7/6/2005	14 d	Trailblazer + PEGASO (Polar Explorer for Geomagnetics And other Scientific Observations)	Over international water (pack-ice) at 17:57 utc at 72º 51.969' N - 176º 47.698' W
Base Mario Zucchelli	2/1/2006	35 d	PEGASO-D	Antarctic Ocean
Longyearbyen	6/14/2006	17 d	Trailblazer + PEGASO (Polar Explorer for Geomagnetics And other Scientific Observations)	At coordinates 81º 28' N - 5º 24' W in the N part of Greenland.
Longyearbyen	6/21/2008	4 d	DUSTER (Dust in the Upper Stratosphere Tracking Experiment and Return)	Near the Thule Air Base, Greenland
Longyearbyen	7/1/2009	3 d	SORA (Sounding Radar)	In Baffin Island, Canada
Ny-Alesund	1/7/2011	2 h	POP # 1 (Polar Observation Platform)	In a Glacier at 79º 03' N 12º 22' E. Svalbard Archipelago
Ny-Alesund	1/9/2011	5 d 12 h	POP # 2 (Polar Observation Platform)	In the Kara Sea, offshore Tamir peninsula, Russian Federation
Ny-Alesund	1/17/2012	2 h	POP # 1 (Polar Observation Platform)	In a Glacier at 79º 03' N 12º 22' E. Svalbard Archipelago
Ny-Alesund	1/19/2012	28 h	POP # 2 (Polar Observation Platform)	Gotland Island, Baltic Sea
León	5/29/2012	---	microBLOON	Aborted flight due to a damaged balloon
León	11/12/2012	4 h	microBLOON	Encinas de Esgueva, Valladolid, Spain
Cordoba	9/6/2013	3 h 10 m	microBLOON	Near Pozoblanco, Andalucia, Spain
Longyearbyen	12/17/2017	24 h	TECHNOLOGICAL FLIGHT	Payload impacted at coordinates 65º 57', 18º 37', Sweden
Sisters Eagle Airport (OR)	7/10/2019	---	ATMOSPHERIC ELECTRIC FIELD MEASUREMENTS	--- No Data ---
Sisters Eagle Airport (OR)	7/11/2019	---	ATMOSPHERIC ELECTRIC FIELD MEASUREMENTS	--- No Data ---
Sisters Eagle Airport (OR)	9/2/2019	---	ATMOSPHERIC ELECTRIC FIELD MEASUREMENTS	Lat. 45.610º Lon. -123.337º
Sisters Eagle Airport (OR)	10/16/2020	~ 4 h	CUBESAT - DSA	SE of Paulina, Oregon, US
Sisters Eagle Airport (OR)	6/22/2021		ATMOSPHERIC ELECTRIC FIELD MEASUREMENTS	Near Aleutian Islands, Alaska, US
Sisters Eagle Airport (OR)	6/24/2021	~ 4 d	ATMOSPHERIC ELECTRIC FIELD MEASUREMENTS	Near Aleutian Islands, Alaska, US
Sisters Eagle Airport (OR)	6/25/2021	~ 4 d	ATMOSPHERIC ELECTRIC FIELD MEASUREMENTS	Near Aleutian Islands, Alaska, US
Kihei (HI)	10/14/2021	~ 6 h	DARPA	--- No Data ---