Hemera: The European Community for Advanced Research in the Stratosphere

HEMERA is a large research community which operates in the field of tropospheric and stratospheric balloon-borne research. The Hemera project is aimed to improve the technologies related to the balloons and to favour the research on balloons by offering the opportunity to fly scientific experiment to the international community. The project, described in this paper together with its major outcomes, involves major space agencies dealing with balloon infrastructures, companies operating the balloons, companies providing the necessary technologies and scientific experts.