(truck engine humming in background) - [Worker] You need another hand up there?

- [Narrator] It's 4:00 AM and 28 degrees in the high desert.

- [Worker] We started around 11:00 PM and it'll take us all the way up to about 6:00 AM.

- [Narrator] Dawn is the target launch time, the moment this crew from Near Space Corporation has been working towards for months.

- [Worker] Grab this.

- [Vic] Okay, now we need to get some balloon out.

- [Narrator] In this flat form, the balloon doesn't look like much.

But once inflated, it'll be more than 50 stories high, six times larger than the average hot air balloon.

(workers talking in background) - [Worker] Keep an eye on that inflation tube, Mark.

- [Narrator] It will carry precious cargo from the European Space Agency, or ESA, into the stratosphere to test the parachute system of a new Mars rover.

That is, if the weather holds.

(wind blowing) - It's the little things you have to be very careful about.

As this envelope comes up, it'll be over 600 feet off the ground, but still anchored to the ground.

So we can't have any winds crossing or sudden gusts.

The force will be extreme and it could cost us the whole balloon envelope.

- Got it?

- Yes, I have it.

- Okay.

- [Narrator] In this business, there's not much room for error.

Poor weather has already scrubbed the balloon launch two different nights, and the pressure to get the important payload into the air is building.

- We're gonna clear the hose.

- Yes.

- Hold the hose away from you.

- Yeah.

- Right?

- [Narrator] The ESA module being tested over Madras is much smaller than the one that'll go to Mars, but it's weighted to produce the same extreme force on the parachute when it's deployed.

- In Mars, there's not nearly as much atmosphere as there is here on Earth.

Therefore, for parachutes, there's less atmosphere to grab.

On Earth, we have to go to much, much higher altitudes, where the densities are the same.

Balloons are an elegant way to get to the altitudes we need.

- [Narrator] The balloon will carry the module nearly 20 miles up before releasing it over Oregon's high desert.

- Make sure it's on it.

Make sure we got our safety on it.

- Yep.

- Our whip.

- [Kevin] Right now, we're checking things again and again, and making sure everything's all set, and then we just need the weather to hold.

- [Narrator] Has there ever been life on Mars?

It's a question we've pondered for a long time.

(pensive music) - I remember I was a kid, and I was watching the Viking mission and waiting to hear about the Martians, the yellow-green characters that never came.

(pensive music) - [Narrator] Any life on Mars will likely be more microbe than Martian, and ESA's Mars rover will use a drill to look for evidence of that life below ground.

- When looking at the evolution of the planets, looking at Mars will probably tell us quite some interesting things about the possible evolution, even of the Earth.

- [Narrator] But before the rover can go to work, the module must first land safely on the surface of the planet.

It will do this using a series of breaking maneuvers that include one of the largest parachutes ever deployed.

(pensive music) - So this big parachute is the one that we are testing here in Madras, Oregon.

(wind blowing) - [Narrator] The predictable high-altitude winds around Madras mean the parachute will fall in the vast sagebrush sea, far from any communities.

(wind blowing) Dawn, and the crew is in position for inflation.

- [Worker] You guys ready?

- [Kevin] The weather's looking pretty good.

We'll start running helium, and then it runs up these inflation tubes and we'll start inflating the main bubble of the balloon.

(balloon inflating) - [Vic] Very good, very good, very good.

- [Narrator] The balloon will only be partially filled because the gas inside will expand as it rises.

(balloon inflating) - [Kevin] Every 10,000 feet, that volume doubles.

(balloon inflating) So the balloon that started looking kind of like a somewhat not very full bag, once it's up at 100,000 feet looks like a stretched out balloon.

(geese honking) - [Narrator] Quiet descends as the flow of gas stops.

(geese honking) The moment the crew has been working towards has finally come.

(geese honking) (balloon rustling) (balloon rustling continues) (truck engine humming) (truck engine humming continues) - [Worker] Woo-hoo!

- [CC] Mark, this is CC.

Can you tell me what your ascent rate is?

- [Mark] Current ascent rate is 1,080 feet per minute.

- [Narrator] The balloon picks up speed as it rises into the winter blue sky.

As the communications crew at the airport tracks the balloon's flight, another team on the ground about two hours downwind picks up the trail.

- [Jake] It's coming this way.

Yeah, I've got it here on a map.

You can see right now it's east of Prineville, not too far from the Ochocos.

- [Narrator] Jake Young is leading the team that will track down and recover the parachute and module in the desert.

- When we terminate the flight, the pieces will come apart and we'll be able to track each piece as they separate.

- What we're hoping to go out and find is a nice, pristine parachute, and a test vehicle that's intact, and some good data.

(ATV engine humming) - [Narrator] Near Space has also brought in a few local sportsmen to lend their expertise.

- We've been all over this area.

We kind of speak the language.

So being able to talk to landowners and things like that kinda comes in handy when something lands in their backyard and they don't know what it is.

- [Narrator] Central Oregon is a near perfect place for this kind of aerospace testing because of its remoteness and relatively consistent weather.

But the flight crew still doesn't want anything they send up to come down on private property.

If the balloon rises too fast or too slow, it could drastically change where the pieces land, meaning Jake's crew has to stay nimble.

- Will do.

- That's right, fluid.

(laughs) I think that's the next level up from nimble.

Sam, we've got a visual - [Sam] Copy.

- [Jake] It's quite a ways away, but we've got it.

- [Tim] Yes, we have FAA approval.

They're gonna release at 9:41.

One minute to release.

- [Worker] All right, sending payload fire now.

I see payload release.

Affirmative, everything is falling away.

(air whooshing) - [Jake] There it goes.

(ATV engine humming) - [Narrator] The ESA module comes down five miles from the closest road.

The only way to get there is ATV.

(ATV engine humming) - [Worker] Hey, you wanna make the right, right there.

A sharp right.

- [Narrator] A spotter plane overhead is directing Jake to the module.

- [Worker] In your position on the right over.

- Yeah, stand by.

This is the fun part.

So I'll lead 'cause I've got comms with the airplane.

He's walking us on, but it's a mile straight from here.

(ATV engine humming) I'm hoping it's between us and those trees.

- [Worker] You'll have hit about 500 yards.

(ATV engine humming) - [Jake] We've got eyes on it.

- [Worker] Great.

(ATV engine humming) - It's good in a sense that you've got low scrub.

It's not in the trees, so that's a plus.

But in a perfect world, it would've been closer to a paved road.

(laughs) - [Narrator] The European team wastes no time documenting the condition of the parachute.

(camera shutter clicking) - [Joe] Okay.

Nice to see it in one piece.

(laughs) (sagebrush rustling) - [Worker] Very gently because this is the part that we care about.

(parachute rustling) - [Jake] Yeah, this parachute's what this whole flight was about.

- [Worker] Yeah.

- [Narrator] When they get home, the team will go over every inch of the massive parachute, looking for damage.

- It's the better part of two days.

It's a lot of fabric to inspect.

- Go.

(bag rustling) - Perfect.

- All right.

Thank you very much, sir.

- [Narrator] All that's left is to call for a lift.

(helicopter blades whirring) The results of this test will have major implications for the ESA mission.

And at the end of a long day, as the module fades into the distance, the team knows the parachute model that will make Mars exploration possible had to land in Oregon first.

(helicopter blades whirring) (no audio) (no audio) - Great people just doing their thing in their own Northwesty way.

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(upbeat music)