“…Through these years, original launching methods and unique launch devices have been developed continuously in order to improve the capability to launch large balloons safely from the limited area of the SBC. In 1980's, the static-launch method (Akiyama et al, 1983;Nishimura et al, 1993) was developed to launch balloons with a volume up to around 50,000 m 3 with only a small launching shock. In 1998, the launch pad of the SBC (140 m long, 20 m wide) was extended 20 m in length, and a new launcher was built to realise the semi-dynamic launching method (Yamagami et al, 2002).…”