What’s New

• Oct 2023 : New XL-Calibur launch window
  The new XL-Calibur launch window from Kiruna, Sweden, is set from May 7 to July 15 2024.
• Oct 2022 : Update on the XL-Calibur Jul 2022 flight :
  the 6-day long flight had to contend with an accidental drop of the entire flight ballast at one side of the gondola, leading to 3.5 days of recovery operations without science observations. Furthermore, a mirror alignment error prevented the observations of the X-ray targets in the remaining time.
• 12 July 2022 : Successful XL-Calibur launch
  XL-CALIBUR was launched in the early morning hours of 12 July 2022 (local time) from Esrange under excellent launch conditions. The balloon carried the payload to 130,000 feet altitude until the mission was terminated over northern Canada on July 18, 2022.
• 24 June 2022 : XL-Calibur compatability testing at Esrange
  The fully assembled XL-Calibur telescope was rolled out for its prelaunch compatability test, which confirms fit and balance with the final balloon rigging. The planned launch after this test was scrubbed due to weather.
• 9 May 2022 : XL-Calibur reassembly at Esrange
  Team members begin assembling and testing of the components after successful shipment to Sweden. Read more on the XL-Calibur blog page.