At 20:57 local time on the 22nd of June, the TRANSAT ballon from CNES was successfully launched from Esrange, outside the town of Kiruna. This was also the French space agency’s first transatlantic balloon, aiming for a flight towards northern Canada.
CNES has been a partner to SSC when it comes to ballooning for many decades. Even though they have flown circumpolar balloons before, meaning they have circulated the Earth multiple laps, that was with different balloons and in the wintertime. This is a first to fly during summer and aim to land the balloon with its payload in the very north of Canada, the Baffin Island, Nunavut area.
“Everything appears to be nominal and we have verified all the satellite links. We have also deployed the solar panels to ensure we have the power we need for this flight. We are ready to go to overseas to Canada.” Stéphane Louvel, Balloon campaign manager at CNES happily concluded a few hours into the three and a half day voyage.
TRANSAT: A balloon mission consisting of a total of nine different scientific experiments, focusing on concentration of greenhouse gases. The 900 kg payload will fly on a 800,000 m3 balloon at 40 km altitude.
Read more about the mission at CNES website: https://ballons.cnes.fr/en/balloons-crossing-atlantic-wind
