  A new generation of sub-orbital platforms will be operational in the next few
years. These new telescopes will operate from airborne and balloon-borne
platforms where the atmosphere is transparent enough to allow sensitive
measurements to be made in the submillimeter bands. The telescopes will take
advantage of state-of-the-art instrumentation including large format bolometer
arrays and spectrometers. Other papers in this volume will deal specifically
with the potential of these bands. In this paper will review the capabilities
the BLAST balloon-borne telescope.
