Massive balloon the size of football stadium set to launch telescope to edge of space

Scientists are set to launch a telescope into the upper atmosphere strapped to a gigantic helium balloon next year.

Footage shows a test flight of the instrument, named the SuperBIT, ahead of its launch from New Zealand in April 2022.

The balloon will expand to football-stadium size and float 40 kilometres above the Earth’s surface, with the telescope suspended beneath it. The team of international researchers behind the project say the telescope will rival Nasa’s ageing Hubble at a fraction of the cost. It will snap high-resolution images of space while circumnavigating the globe.