OLNEY, Ill. (Oct. 7, 2026) – Aerostratospheric, an Illinois nonprofit and the home of Midwest Stratospheric Data Systems (Midwest SDS), is now an ENERGY STAR® partner. Aerostratospheric has partnered with the ENERGY STAR program as an association and nonprofit partner through ENERGY STAR for Commercial Buildings and Industrial Plants. The partnership took effect on Oct. 2, 2026.

As an ENERGY STAR partner, Aerostratospheric is focusing on three things: energy efficiency in its own office, internal policies that make the organization more energy efficient, and sharing energy-efficiency guidance with its members. The partnership is about how Aerostratospheric runs its office and its organization. It is not a certification of any Aerostratospheric product, service, flight, platform, or data product, and it does not apply to them.

The partnership adds to the environmental work Aerostratospheric already describes on its public Going Green page:

- High-altitude balloons have no engine and burn no fuel in flight.
- Aerostratospheric operates electric vehicles for launch, chase, and recovery.
- Its office is kept small on purpose as part of its Going Green initiative.
- It contributes 1% of its Stripe revenue to carbon removal through Stripe Climate.
- Store purchases help it buy Renewable Energy Credits for operations electricity and electric-vehicle charging.
- It publishes its own carbon numbers instead of claiming zero impact. Its public estimate is about 45 kg CO₂e per X2Griffon-class science flight.

These figures are Aerostratospheric's own estimates. ENERGY STAR has not reviewed or endorsed them.

The full Going Green page is at https://www.midwestsds.com/carbon-impact.html. Information about the ENERGY STAR program is at https://www.energystar.gov/.

ENERGY STAR and the ENERGY STAR mark are registered trademarks owned by the U.S. Government. Aerostratospheric's participation in the ENERGY STAR program does not mean that the U.S. Government endorses Aerostratospheric or its buildings, products, services, flights, or data.

About Aerostratospheric

Aerostratospheric is an Illinois nonprofit and the home of Midwest Stratospheric Data Systems. It designs, builds, and flies lightweight high-altitude platforms to collect and publicly release high-quality atmospheric data. Science flights are conducted under FAA Part 101, and the resulting datasets are released openly for public scientific and educational use. Corporate office: 801 S. West Street, Suite 101, Olney, IL 62450. Launch operations: Casey, Illinois. Web: https://www.aerostratospheric.com/

Media contact

Aerostratospheric
[email protected]
(603) 600-2376
801 S. West Street, Suite 101, Olney, IL 62450

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