CSA's stratos program: Bringing a new mid-latitude stratospheric balloon base

In 2012, an agreement was signed between the “Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales” (CNES) and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) for an international collaboration for the launch of stratospheric balloons. The CNES, with their 3500 flights of heritage and 50 years' experience in ballooning, brought to the table the flight hardware, including a newly develop control system for aerostat known as NOSYCA, as well as all associated ground support equipment. On the other hand, CSA provides a mid-latitude launch base located in a low populated area of northern Ontario, aerostats recovery services as well as interfaces with all national authorities needed to fly heavy stratospheric balloons safely within Canadian airspace. In exchanges of these services, Canadian payloads are to be flown yearly by CNES from its worldwide network of sites. The effort started with the site selection process and the requirement definition and resulted in infrastructures with distinct buildings for the payloads, the flight chain and means of launch. A first launch campaign was held in 2013 to validate the new NOSYCA control system developed by the CNES and was followed in 2014 and 2015 by scientific ballooning campaigns. This paper describes the Timmins Stratospheric Balloon Base (TSBB) installations as well as the services provided by CSA with regards to interfaces with the national authorities and aerostat recovery. Details are provided on the Timmins facilities including the new deported antenna site which almost doubles the flight range for flights towards the east. Finally, results and statistics from the last 3 campaigns will be discussed.