We
launch stratospheric balloons from the CREST campus of the Indian
Insitute of Astrophysics for scientific purposes. Typically we use
multiple balloons to reach altitudes of over 30 km.
The ballooning group is led by Prof. Jayant Murthy and Dr. Margarita
Safonova and currently includes graduate students A. Sreejith, Joice
Mathew, Mayuresh Sarpotdar, Nirmal K. and Ambily S.
We are using our balloon program to develop and test payloads for
space missions taking advantage of the many opportunities now becoming
available.
My TEDx talk at BNMIT:
It is our thesis that if we build payloads, we will get opportunities to fly them. We are working on two opportunities at the moment: