Fly, Fix, Fly: Using High-Altitude Balloons to Advance Technologies with Earth and Space Applications 

Sean Bryan, Associate Research Professor, School of Earth and Space Exploration, 

Arizona State University 

December 7, 2022

Community of Practice Webinar Series

NASA Flight Opportunities

https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/flightopportunities/community-of-practice

1

NASA FLIGHT OPPORTUNITIES

www.nasa.gov

NASA Flight Opportunities

Session will start at 10 a.m. PT – Please mute your microphone and turn off your camera

Community of Practice Webinar Series – December 7, 2022

Sean Bryan, Associate Research Professor, School of Earth and Space Exploration, Arizona State University

Fly, Fix, Fly: Using High-Altitude Balloons to Advance Technologies

with Earth and Space Applications 

1

NASA FLIGHT OPPORTUNITIES

Welcome to the Community of Practice Webinar Series!

First, a bit of housekeeping...

• Please mute your microphone and turn off your camera

• Today’s session will be recorded

• Recordings for this and all future session will be posted on the Flight Opportunities 

website

• Please engage!

• Use the chat throughout the session to ask questions

2

2
Fly, Fix, Fly: Using High-Altitude Balloons to Advance Technologies with Earth and Space Applications 

Sean Bryan, Associate Research Professor, School of Earth and Space Exploration, 

Arizona State University 

December 7, 2022

Community of Practice Webinar Series

NASA Flight Opportunities

https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/flightopportunities/community-of-practice

2

NASA FLIGHT OPPORTUNITIES

Flight Opportunities Mission

3

The Flight Opportunities program facilitates rapid 

demonstration of promising technologies for 

space exploration, discovery, and the expansion 

of space commerce through suborbital testing 

with industry flight providers.

3

NASA FLIGHT OPPORTUNITIES

Join us for future Community of Practice webinars!

Watch our website and 

newsletter for next month’s 

topic

nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/flighto

pportunities/newsletter

4

Future webinars

• Webinars are held 1st Wednesday of each 

month at 10 a.m. PT

• Topics will be announced in the Flight 

Opportunities newsletter and website

• Session recordings will be posted on the 

Flight Opportunities website

• Let us know session topics you would like 

to see covered

4
Fly, Fix, Fly: Using High-Altitude Balloons to Advance Technologies with Earth and Space Applications 

Sean Bryan, Associate Research Professor, School of Earth and Space Exploration, 

Arizona State University 

December 7, 2022

Community of Practice Webinar Series

NASA Flight Opportunities

https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/flightopportunities/community-of-practice

3

NASA FLIGHT OPPORTUNITIES

Today’s Speaker

5

Sean Bryan

Associate Research Professor

School of Earth and Space Exploration

Arizona State University

5

NASA FLIGHT OPPORTUNITIES

www.nasa.gov

NASA Flight Opportunities

Community of Practice

December 2022 | Sean Bryan

6
Fly, Fix, Fly: Using High-Altitude Balloons to Advance Technologies with Earth and Space Applications 

Sean Bryan, Associate Research Professor, School of Earth and Space Exploration, 

Arizona State University 

December 7, 2022

Community of Practice Webinar Series

NASA Flight Opportunities

https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/flightopportunities/community-of-practice

4

Fly, Fix, Fly: Using High-Altitude 

Balloons to Advance Technologies with 

Earth and Space Applications

Sean Bryan

Arizona State University

Euphorbia Tirucalli

Tempe, AZ

7

Bryan - CubeSounder – 8

CubeSounder

Technology Maturation

• Deliver 3D weather data with

microwave sounding

• Current leading driver of

weather forecast accuracy

• CubeSounder brings this capability to

low-SWaP-C platforms for the first time

• Mature ASU-developed technology

to TRL6 with high-altitude balloon

flights with World View

8
Fly, Fix, Fly: Using High-Altitude Balloons to Advance Technologies with Earth and Space Applications 

Sean Bryan, Associate Research Professor, School of Earth and Space Exploration, 

Arizona State University 

December 7, 2022

Community of Practice Webinar Series

NASA Flight Opportunities

https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/flightopportunities/community-of-practice

5

Bryan - CubeSounder – 9

CubeSounder Team

• SESE: PI Sean Bryan, Delondrae Carter,

Walter Goodwin, Co-I Christopher Groppi,

Jonathan Greenfield, Jae Joiner, Kyle Massingill,

Co-I Philip Mauskopf, Bianca Pina, Philip Rybak, 

Joseph Tinlin, Peter Wullen

• WISCA/ECEE: Co-I Daniel Bliss, Michael Baricuatro,

Roshni Suresh

• NewSpace/SESE: Scott Smas

9

Bryan - CubeSounder – 10

Slide: NAS/NASA Decadal Survey

10
Fly, Fix, Fly: Using High-Altitude Balloons to Advance Technologies with Earth and Space Applications 

Sean Bryan, Associate Research Professor, School of Earth and Space Exploration, 

Arizona State University 

December 7, 2022

Community of Practice Webinar Series

NASA Flight Opportunities

https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/flightopportunities/community-of-practice

6

Bryan - CubeSounder – 11

Weather

Weather for

Military

Operations

Hurricanes, 

Disasters, Storms

Water, Studying the Desert

CubeSounder

Slide: NAS/NASA Decadal Survey

11

Bryan - CubeSounder – 12

• Bring state-of-the-art

3D weather sensing capability to 

low-SWaP-C platforms

for the first time

• Enable wider deployment with 

~10x improved SWaP-C

for better coverage to improve

forecast accuracy and lead time

SOA (ATMS) Advancement

SWaP 70x60x40 cm

185 lbs

130 Watts

<32x22x22cm

<11 lbs

<20 Watts

Frequency

Coverage

22 channels

24-190 GHz

18 channels

50-183 GHz

Sensitivity NE(Δ)T: 36-266 mK√s

±1-2% rel. humidity

±0.25-0.4 K temperature

in 2 km vertical bins per s

30-41 mK√s

±1-3% 

±0.3-0.8 K

in 2 km bins per s

Stability LO Frequency Instability Inherently Stable

CubeSounder Nominal Design: Comparison with State of the Art

12
Fly, Fix, Fly: Using High-Altitude Balloons to Advance Technologies with Earth and Space Applications 

Sean Bryan, Associate Research Professor, School of Earth and Space Exploration, 

Arizona State University 

December 7, 2022

Community of Practice Webinar Series

NASA Flight Opportunities

https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/flightopportunities/community-of-practice

7

Bryan - CubeSounder – 13

World View Capabilities

Based in

Tucson, AZ

Persistent

Coverage

• Fly commercial high-altitude balloons 

with earth-observing and 

communications payload modules

• Provide continuous coverage of the 

Continental US and other regions 

with station-keeping capability

13

Bryan - CubeSounder – 14

Sensitivity and Passband Performance

• Measure channel passbands 

and sensitivity

• Passbands with mm-wave VNA

• Liquid nitrogen source as

sensitivity reference

• Deliver further sensitivity 

improvement by selecting 

higher-performance

COTS detectors in

future mission

• Integrate 60 GHz system 

working on bench into

flight test payload

156-182 GHz Measured Passbands

Well-controlled

sensor

passbands

Near-SoA lab-measured

sensor sensitivity

and stability across

broad audio bandwidth

(i.e. 10s to 1000+ km spatial scales)

Lab-Measured Sensitivity

14
Fly, Fix, Fly: Using High-Altitude Balloons to Advance Technologies with Earth and Space Applications 

Sean Bryan, Associate Research Professor, School of Earth and Space Exploration, 

Arizona State University 

December 7, 2022

Community of Practice Webinar Series

NASA Flight Opportunities

https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/flightopportunities/community-of-practice

8

Bryan - CubeSounder – 15

Payload/Vehicle Integration Team for Flight Test

• Mature sensor technology to

TRL6 after successful balloon

flight of prototype payload

April 9-13th 2022

• 100 hours of flight data

• 60,000 - 75,000 ft altitudes

• Upgrade electronics,

replace 183 GHz LNAs, and

add 60 GHz band for

next balloon flight

October 2021 Vehicle Integration Team

April 2022 Vehicle

Integration Team

April 2022 Launch

15

Bryan - CubeSounder – 16

Flight Test

• Mature sensor technology to 

TRL6 after successful balloon 

flight of prototype payload

April 9-13th 2022

• 100 hours of flight data

• 60,000 - 75,000 ft altitudes

• Provided through ongoing

CubeSounder NASA Flight 

Opportunities program

• Upgrade electronics,

replace 183 GHz LNAs, and

add 60 GHz band for

next balloon flight

High-Altitude Balloon 

Launch Vehicle Filter Bank

180 GHz 

LNAs

Flight

Electronics

12x22x32 cm

16
Fly, Fix, Fly: Using High-Altitude Balloons to Advance Technologies with Earth and Space Applications 

Sean Bryan, Associate Research Professor, School of Earth and Space Exploration, 

Arizona State University 

December 7, 2022

Community of Practice Webinar Series

NASA Flight Opportunities

https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/flightopportunities/community-of-practice

9

Bryan - CubeSounder – 17

Conclusions

• Mature ASU-developed weather sensing technology to TRL6 with

high-altitude balloon flights with World View

• Learn from results of the successful April 2022 flight

• Integrate upgraded hardware already working on the bench into

payload for upcoming flight

17

Bryan - CubeSounder – 18

Additional Material: 180 GHz Sensor Calibration Details

• Characterize sensor noise level and stability in the lab

18
Fly, Fix, Fly: Using High-Altitude Balloons to Advance Technologies with Earth and Space Applications 

Sean Bryan, Associate Research Professor, School of Earth and Space Exploration, 

Arizona State University 

December 7, 2022

Community of Practice Webinar Series

NASA Flight Opportunities

https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/flightopportunities/community-of-practice

10

Bryan - CubeSounder – 19

Evaluating the Balloon Prototype Payload: Lab

• Calibrate with liquid nitrogen load

19

Bryan - CubeSounder – 20

Evaluating the Balloon Prototype Payload: Lab

• Calibrate with liquid nitrogen load

20
Fly, Fix, Fly: Using High-Altitude Balloons to Advance Technologies with Earth and Space Applications 

Sean Bryan, Associate Research Professor, School of Earth and Space Exploration, 

Arizona State University 

December 7, 2022

Community of Practice Webinar Series

NASA Flight Opportunities

https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/flightopportunities/community-of-practice

11

Bryan - CubeSounder – 21

Evaluating the Balloon Prototype Payload: Lab

• Measure noise stability

with flight readout

electronics

• Improved white noise level due to

upgraded LNA and ADCs

• Stability over >1000 s timescales

to 3 Hz, >three decades of audio BW

• Compare with 36-226 mKrts

sensitivity in SoA 

150-180 GHz ATMS sensor • ~10x SWaP-C improvement

• Scale system towards

theoretical limit of

30-40 mKrts

> 3 decades of audio bandwidth

Continent (~1000s km) Spatial Scale Beam (~10s km) Spatial Scale

21

Bryan - CubeSounder – 22

Measured Sensor Passbands

• Use vector network analyzer 

(VNA) to measure passbands of 

filter bank and gain profile of 

each LNA

• Combine measurements to yield 

end-to-end passbands of each 

radiometer channel

• Demonstrate excellent agreement 

between as-build measurements 

and filter bank theoretical design

22
Fly, Fix, Fly: Using High-Altitude Balloons to Advance Technologies with Earth and Space Applications 

Sean Bryan, Associate Research Professor, School of Earth and Space Exploration, 

Arizona State University 

December 7, 2022

Community of Practice Webinar Series

NASA Flight Opportunities

https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/flightopportunities/community-of-practice

12

NASA FLIGHT OPPORTUNITIES

23 www.nasa.gov

Thank you! 

Flight Opportunities website: 

http://nasa.gov/flightopportunities

Contact us:

NASA-FlightOpportunities@mail.nasa.gov

23