WORLD VIEW ANNOUNCES PATHFINDER PROGRAM FOR RESEARCH AND EDUCATION PAYLOADS
San Francisco, CA – July 28, 2014 – World View Enterprises, the commercial spaceflight balloon company, has announced plans to fly research and education payloads during its balloon test flight phase as part of its newly launched Pathfinder program.
World View has selected three initial Pathfinder payloads to fly on its delivery platforms beginning in late 2014. The payloads will be transported to altitudes as high as 120,000 feet via high-altitude balloon for the collection of scientific data. The initial Pathfinder payload institutions, payloads, and their Principal Investigators (PIs) include:
- Space Environment Technologies: Dr. W. Kent Tobiska; Stratospheric Automated Radiation Measurements for Aerospace Safety
- SETI Institute: Dr. Peter Jenniskens; Meteor Imager
- Florida Space Grant Consortium: Dr. Jaydeep Mukherjee;Student Ozone Monitor
“World View’s research and education Pathfinder program represents a major milestone and demonstrates our commitment to opening routine access to high-altitude balloon flights to these communities,” said Dr. Alan Stern, World View chief scientist and cofounder.Taber MacCallum, co-founder and World View chief technical officer added, “As we work toward launching consumer space flights in late 2016, we’re pleased to be able to
leverage our test flights to make a significant, positive impact right now on the fields of research and education. We’re especially proud to be working with such accomplished principal investigators for our initial Pathfinder payload flights.” World View plans to fly a broad range of research and education payloads on its various stratospheric balloon systems, including the recently flight-tested and validated Tycho
system. Tycho is a reusable commercial craft designed to offer low-cost access to the near-space environment (up to 130,000 feet) and is capable of flying small research and education payloads for a wide variety of applications, including atmospheric research, technology demonstrations for space flight and education. World View will offer similar opportunities on board its larger vehicles, including manned commercial flights with a float altitude of 100,000 feet, scheduled to begin in late 2016.
For more information on World View and the availability of research and education opportunities, watch the July 26, 2014 NewSpace 2014 keynote speech by Dr. Stern
here:
• Full presentation: http://bit.ly/WVFullPresentation
• Pathfinder program announcement: http://bit.ly/WVPathfinderAnnouncement
About World View
World View offers a gentle, comfortable, and life-changing travel experience to the edge of space for private citizens, and frequent and affordable access to near-space for researchers, educators, private companies and government agencies. World View systems are available today for unmanned research, education, and commercial opportunities with an altitude capability up to 130,000 feet, and the company is currently
taking reservations for manned flights and private tours, Watch the World View experience here. For more information, visit http://www.worldviewexperience.com.
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Kaley Briesmaster / Katelyn Mixer
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www.worldviewexperience.com