High Altitude Balloons Team

A photo of the edge of space, taken by SSI-23, Gemini

The Balloons team constructs and launches High Altitude Balloons (HABs)! We predominantly launch Latex balloons, and have experimented with zero-pressure balloons (ZPBs) and cellophane circumnavigators in the past. To date, the Balloons team has launched and recovered 140+ HABs as high as 120,000 feet with active altitude controls, satellite communication, and scientific payloads. We have launched a balloon crossing the Atlantic Ocean from California and also balloons that have circumnavigated the globe!

The current team co-leads are

@Kai Song  and @Aditya Iyer 

The Balloons team has two ongoing projects: the Latex Experimental series, and the Glacial Radio And Stratospheric Sensing (GRASS) project in partnership with the Radio Glaciology Lab. Latex Experimental is an all-encompassing series where we test & verify new technologies (sensing, comms, recovery), fly payloads for our fellow SSI teams, and test innovative payload designs. GRASS is a research project targeting Greenland-based testing to measure how RF power gets scattered off the surface of glaciers, along with some other open questions about airborne ice-penetrating radar.

In the coming year (2026-27), the Balloons team plans to add the following projects:

• CLIPPER, a glider payload that can be returned to the launch location or another ideal location. This will solve the significant ballooning problem of having to find and retrieve payloads, often from unideal locations; it will also enable us to launch from new locations.
• Pharmaceuticals in Space, a microgravity crystal synthesis project in partnership with the M.A.R.S. team. This project will demonstrate the viability and chemical significance of synthesising pharmaceutical products in microgravity, which is hypothesised to create more uniform crystal structures.

Balloon payloads are launched with state-of-the-art equipment constantly re-envisioned by the team. Previous payloads include altitude control mechanics using a gas venting valve and ballast dispenser (ValBal), as well as a custom flight control system, two-way satellite communications, an intelligent altitude control algorithm, autonomous guided payload recovery and more.

The Balloons team Faculty Advisor is Dr. John Pauly, Department of Electrical Engineering.

Our past co-leads:

• 2025-26: @David Zhou  and @Quyen Vo .
• 2024-25: @Michelle Zheng  and @Amber Leung .
• 2022-23: @Rohan Sanda  and @Jack Bernardo .
• 2021-22: @Matthew Tan  and @Janice Teoh .
• 2020-21: Aditeya Shuka (@Adi ) and Sathya Edamadaka (@sathya ).
• 2019-20 were Sydney Marler (@smarler ) and Jason Kurohara (@jason kurohara ).

Previous projects include:
Cycloon, which aims to harness altitude control technology and the unique advantages of a balloon platform to study tropical cyclogenesis.
HABSIM, a GEFS-based trajectory prediction server and an associated Python package enabling predictions and optimizations on custom profiles.
Spaceshot, which aims to launch a rocket off a high-altitude balloon to reach space.
HABMC, the balloons team mission-control software, a powerful web-app that provides real-time data, analytics, and controls of balloon flights.
Balloonerang, which aims to build a payload which autonomously glides to a predetermined recovery site.
ValBal, a long-endurance, low-cost latex balloon altitude-maintenance platform that holds multiple world records for endurance, and has flown as far as Morocco.
HABEES, the balloons project team responsible for all balloons standard-profile electronics, RF, and flight software systems.
habhive, the balloons mechanical-engineering project team, responsible for development of payload structures & novel mechanical projects to be flown on balloons.

The balloons team is committed to openness and diversity in projects; project teams serve to facilitate member interests and novel new ideas and propositions; talk to the balloon co-leads or the relevant project leads if you have an awesome idea you'd like to try out!