It’s not every day you get to help NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration launch the Superbit payload also known as the Super Pressure Balloon launch!

As seen below we used our GMK5110, a 100 tonne Grove all terrain mobile crane. Multiple successful modifications are required to the crane for the activities to prepare the gondola and safely launch the super pressure balloon.

Smith Crane and Construction’s role in this project has been small as the provider of crane services but we are proud of our association with NASA and this world leading science. The work of cranes in enabling multiple storey residential and commercial buildings, and providing telecommunication, energy and transport infrastructure is well known. However, our industry also plays a role in supporting science. We are in the business of big lifts but it is not often our work involves lifting scientific pay loads of 2.5 tonnes.

The purpose of NASA’S global super pressure balloon program is to conduct scientific and technological research into the near-space environment. The objective is to successfully launch the scientific instrumentation into the stratosphere where strong winds will enable the super pressure balloon to circumnavigate the southern hemisphere collecting valuable data on the edge of space.

The SPB launches from Wanaka to a height of 33,500m (110,000 ft). This is at the edge of space with the atmosphere above 30,000m (100,000 ft) so thin that it is virtually a vacuum. The SPB’s are designed to fly for about 100 days during which they will hopefully circumnavigate the southern hemisphere up to 14 times at speeds up to 185km/hr (100 knots).

This is the 4th NASA launch of a SPB that Smith Crane & Construction has been associated with. The 2015 program saw a successful 32-day flight from Wanaka ending in a landing in Australia. The program has been disrupted in intervening years by the Covid travel restrictions but was re-scheduled in 2022. This year’s flight is for the launch of the Super Pressure Balloon borne imaging telescope (SuperBIT) and is staged for a long duration flight to obtain space quality, diffraction-limited imaging from the stratosphere.

Thanks to NASA for selecting Smith Cranes to be a part of this unique project.