Balloon

Here's a world record I didn't know needed breaking. Highlining legend Julien Roux has walked on a tightrope drawn between two hot air balloons nearly 14,000 feet up in the air – surpassing the previous best by half a mile in altitude.

We're now one step closer to seeing tourists making balloon flights to the edge of outer space. Just last week, Florida company Space Perspective sent a balloon-lifted test capsule to the outer limits of our planet's atmosphere, followed by a successful splashdown landing.

Paying passengers could be flying to the edge of space as soon as next year, but not with the company you might think. Spain's EOS-X Space has announced that it's nearing finalization of a capsule that will be hoisted heavenward by a giant balloon.

The wilderness can instantly leave you stranded and in desperate need of rescue. Airmarker debuts a new survival beacon that can triumph where others fail, sending up a visual indicator of the victim's exact location, without battery or connectivity.

When someone says they're planning on using a balloon to take tourists to the edge of space, you may wonder if they'll ever get past the conceptual stage. Space Perspective has gotten past it, by building a physical test model of its Neptune capsule.

High-altitude platform stations (HAPS) are effective tools for communication and surveillance because they operate from the stratosphere, much closer to earth than satellites. But how do they stay on track?

As handy as multicopter drones are, the endlessly spinning blades are noisy, energy-intensive and potentially dangerous. So Japanese company NTT Docomo has now unveiled bouncy blimp-like drones that get around using an ultrasonic propulsion system.

Cape Canaveral's Space Perspective has officially started selling tickets for the highest balloon ride of them all: a six-hour floating journey to the edge of space, where you can watch the sunrise. At US$125,000 a seat, flights start in 2024.

An internet-beaming balloon has broken a flight record, staying aloft in the stratosphere for 312 days straight. Developed and launched by Loon, the balloon circumnavigated the globe for 10 months, demonstrating the resilience of the network.

By turning to the paper-based art form of kirigami for inspiration, a team of Harvard researchers has developed a system for programmable balloons that can take of all kinds of “crazy” shapes when inflated.

In recent years, people have used balloons to carry items ranging from teddy bears to chicken sandwiches to the edge of outer space. Now, Florida-based startup Space Perspective has announced plans to do the same thing with paying human passengers.

​For many of us earthbound types, hot air ballooning can be quite intimidating. Italian aviation entrepreneur Leandro Corradini is trying to make it less so, with his relatively simple and compact FlyDOO Light Sport Balloon system.