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NASA Launches Fourth Balloon for Scientific Campaign
Developing
In Short: NASA launched the fourth balloon of its Scientific Balloon Campaign from Fort Sumner, New Mexico, on September 13, 2026.
NASA launched the fourth balloon of its Scientific Balloon Campaign from Fort Sumner, New Mexico, on September 13, 2026, at 8:03 a.m. The mission, known as BOOP! (Balloon Optimization Opportunity Payload), is designed to test multiple technology instruments for future space missions.
This year’s campaign marks the 20th flight for the High-Altitude Student Platform, carrying payloads developed by student teams. Over the course of two decades, more than 1,900 students from about 25 institutions across the United States have participated in flying experiments on the balloon platform.
The BOOP! mission is the second flight for the Compact Large-sensor Imaging Camera, which carries a small camera system capable of processing images in real-time to help determine safe landing spots for rovers on future Moon or Mars missions. The balloon reached a float altitude of around 123,000 feet and flew for a total of 4 hours and 29 minutes.
According to reports, this is the second year for NASA’s Balloon Program Office’s BOOP! program, which allows multiple technology instruments to be tested during flight. The High-Altitude Student Platform program is a partnership among the Louisiana Space Grant Consortium, the Astrophysics Division in the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters, and the agency’s Balloon Program Office and Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility in Palestine, Texas.
Prior to the launches of the fifth and sixth satellites, an electrical issue was discovered that impacted both the broadband capacity and the estimated operational life of those satellites. SpaceX and NASA launched a planet-hunting satellite Wednesday from Cape Canaveral, two days after calling off a launch attempt to conduct additional guidance, navigation, and control analyses.
What's still developing
- The first two satellites were launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket back on Dec. 16, 2022, with subsequent launches in pairs in April 2023, November 2023, December 2024, and July 2025.
- Making its third try after back-to-back aborts, a Falcon 9 rocket successfully launched the commercial Intelsat 35e communications satellite Wednesday from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Sources
- NASA Science (.gov)link