QINETIQ1 (Elson - Prescott)

The QINETIQ 1 balloon mission was a British project designed to set a world record for the highest altitude ever reached by a manned balloon of 132,000 feet (approximately 40 kilometers), higher than the previous record of 113,740 feet set by Malcolm Ross and Victor Prather in 1961 during the Stratolab-High V mission. The flight was sponsored by QinetiQ, a British global defence technology company, formelly part of the UK government agency, Defence Evaluation and Research Agency (DERA) and was meant to be piloted by Andy Elson and Colin Prescot.

The team of approximately twelve people, led by balloonist Andy Elson and Engineering Director Andy Cox, operated from Glastonbury, Somerset, combining engineering expertise with practical ballooning experience. The balloon envelope was designed to be constructed from linear low density polyethylene, using a unique balloon production machine, developed by Elson for manufacturing both prototype and final flight envelopes. The final balloon required one tonne of quality-assured polyethylene, reinforced with 160 load tapes containing polyester threads inside polyethylene tapes, capable of lifting up to 32 metric tonnes when equally loaded.

The flight platform -which can be seen in the image at left- was designed as an open structure where the two pilots would sit, featuring a square shape for water landing stability and efficient equipment positioning. The platform's sides and bottom were engineered to crumble and absorb impact energy during landing. In case of emergency descent above 70,000 feet, the envelope would act as a parachute, preventing supersonic free fall. At 70,000 feet, drogue parachutes would automatically deploy for a controlled descent.

The life support systems were crucial for survival in the extreme conditions, which would resemble those on Mars's surface. The pilots would wear specially designed spacesuits developed by Zvezda, the company responsible for the Russian Space Programme's spacesuits. The pilots underwent extensive training at Zvezda's facility near Moscow, including 12-hour simulations in a sealed temperature and pressure chamber that replicated conditions at 25 miles above Earth.

Safety measures included pure oxygen breathing procedures before launch to prevent decompression illness, flotation devices on both the flight platform and suits, and specific landing procedures for water touchdown. At 10,000 feet during descent, the pilots would need to execute specific spacesuit procedures to ensure safe splashdown and recovery.

For position tracking, QinetiQ designed a GPS system based on a commercial antenna and receiver, which would provide primary position and height determination for record verification. The system included backup methods such as a barometric sensor and advanced tracking radar at QinetiQ's Aberporth site.

QinetiQ1's mission included a revolutionary solar plane, Zephyr 3, which was developed specifically to film and photograph the balloon flight at its target altitude of 25 miles. The solar plane was designed by QinetiQ scientists to fly at altitudes up to 40km, which would make it the highest powered flight ever achieved. The mission plan called for Zephyr 3 to be tethered beneath the flight platform and carried up with the balloon. While ascending, at 30.000 ft, the plane would flying in a circular motion while remaining tethered to the balloon. As it gained altitude, it would reach the pilots' flight platform level at 80,000ft.

The communication system was extensively developed to share the experience with ground control. Seven cameras on the balloon platform, plus additional cameras on the Zephyr solar-powered airplane, would capture and transmit live images to Mission Control. QinetiQ experts developed secure radio systems from the Triton trimaran ship to the flight platform and implemented a satellite antenna system for accurate balloon tracking.

As occured with Stratolab V in 1961, the Qinetiq1 mission would be launched from a ship: the British Navy's experimental trimaran R.V. Triton, anchored several kilometers offshore, facing St. Ives in Cornwall.

Balloon launched on: 9/3/2003
Launch site: RV Triton  
Balloon manufacturer/size/composition: Zero Pressure Balloon 44.000.000 cuft
End of flight (L for landing time, W for last contact, otherwise termination time): 9/3/2003
Landing site: Failure of the balloon. Mission aborted

After several delays due to the weather, the mission was finally attempted on September 3, 2002. A few minutes before 7 AM, with the balloon semi-inflated rising 15 meters above the deck of the British Navy's RV Triton, technicians noticed that helium began escaping through a large perforation in its surface, causing the polyethylene structure to collapse upon itself within minutes. At the time of the failure, the pilots were putting on their space suits as a preliminary step before entering the gondola.

This marked the end of more than three years of work by the Qinetiq1 team trying to break the altitude record achieved by the American Stratolab project.

The failure that appeared on the balloon's surface may have been due to a twist in the envelope when removing it from its container, which generated extreme pressure in the upper part of the balloon, ultimately causing one of its gores to fail. The team decided not to attempt another flight that year.

Although the balloon was carefully designed by the main sponsor (Qinetiq, a technology development company that originally belonged to the British Ministry of Defense) and a scale model was tested, the final full-scale model had never been inflated before. Despite doubts that momentarily arose about the project's continuity, one of QinetiQ's directors, Dr. David Anderson, immediately came out to deny this, stating that the company felt absolutely committed to the project.

Despite the announcement of another attempt to perform the flight in 2005, the mission never was carried out.

• QINETIQ1 (balloon mission) Stratopedia, the balloon encyclopedia