VISTA: India’s First Indigenous Stratospheric Super Pressure Balloon
Why in the news
An Indian startup sent up a home-grown stratospheric balloon, putting India into a small group of countries able to build such platforms.
Key facts
- Company: Red Balloon Aerospace Private Limited, a startup.
- Platform: VISTA, a stratospheric Super Pressure Balloon (SPB), flown under Mission SANA.
- Place: Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh.
- Height reached: close to 25 km above the Earth.
- Payloads on board: biological experiments, propulsion systems, navigation technologies and earth-observation sensors.
- Peer nations with indigenous SPB ability: USA, France, Japan, China.
Exam angle
- Name of the balloon: VISTA; mission: SANA.
- First of its kind in India, built domestically.
- Location: Andhra Pradesh.