Overview of the French balloon program for the 2011 - 2012 period

摘要

Since its establishment in 1961, the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES) has been supporting scientific ballooning, which remains the most cost effective means to access to near space science. This paper will give a quick overview of the CNES capabilities and services for operational balloon activities, and will focus on the on going development to improve them. The most important balloon campaigns since these two years and the future campaigns will be also presented.