We’ve begun testing the upper deck balloon interface. This system will be used by Ascenders and Dark Sky Stations.It does two things: It allows multiple easy interfaces to the inner lifting cells (this was a huge problem on Ascender 175) and it allows us to use inexpensive flat plastic film instead of outrageously expensive thin film shaped balloons. The test cell/balloon was half scale for both the next Ascender and the next DSS. Yesterday the team began building a full scale cell to test.
Looking forward to seeing more!