NASA's Three Long Duration Balloon Missions Working Over Antarctica
2013-01-08
2013-01-08
For the second time, the NASA Scientific Balloon Program managed at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility, Wallops Island, VA, has three separate Long Duration Balloon (LDB) science missions afloat collecting data simultaneously. The previous time was during the 2007-2008 Antarctic campaign.
The three missions in the current Antarctic summer Campaign, SuperTIGER,
BLAST, and EBEX, were launched by NASA’s Columbia Scientific Balloon
Facility (CSBF) in December 2012 from the LDB site near McMurdo Station,
Antarctica.
The LDB site was established at Willy Field, McMurdo Station, in order to take advantage of the stratospheric anticyclone wind pattern circulating from east to west around the South Pole. The stratospheric wind circulation combined with the sparsely populated continent of Antarctica allows for long duration balloon flights at altitudes above 100,000 feet.
Super-TIGER was launched at 3:45 pm EST Dec 8, 2012. Super-TIGER, or Super Trans-Iron Galactic Element Recorder, is flying a new instrument for measuring the rare heavy elements among the flux of high-energy cosmic rays bombarding the Earth from elsewhere in our Milky Way Galaxay. The information retrieved from this mission will be used to develop an understanding where these energetic atomic nuclei are produced and how they achieve their very high energies.
The principal investigator of the SuperTIGER mission is Dr. Walter Binns of Washington University, St. Louis, Mo. The 39-million cubic foot scientific balloon is carrying SuperTIGER at a float altitude of 127,000 feet.
The second mission to launch in the campaign was BLAST, or the Balloon Borne Large Aperture Submillimeter Telescope, launched Dec. 25 at 1:57 p.m. EST. Galactic magnetic fields can polarize submillimeter-emitting micron-sized dust particles in star forming regions. The resulting emission is slightly polarized. By measuring the level of polarization, BLAST can help determine if magnetic fields are a dominant force over turbulence in regulating star formation in our Galaxy.
BLAST’s principal investigator is Dr. Mark Devlin of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. The 39-million cubic foot scientific balloon is at a float altitude of 126,000 feet.
The third and final mission of the Antarctic campaign was the heaviest payload ever launched aboard a NASA scientific balloon. Weighing in at 8,000 pounds, the EBEX experiment launched Dec. 29 at 7:27 p.m. EST. EBEX, or E&B Experiment, measures cosmic microwave background radiation, particularly its polarization. The cosmic microwave background is a type of radiation that fills the entire observable universe and is a relic remnant from the beginning of the universe. The discovery of the cosmic microwave background in the 1960's is a landmark confirmation of the big-bang model. EBEX is searching for signals from an inflationary expansion of the universe, which is thought to have taken place a fraction of a second after the big bang. Aside from being the heaviest payload ever launched aboard a NASA scientific balloon, EBEX is physically the largest payload ever to be flown by any balloon program worldwide. The 34 million cubic foot scientific balloon is carrying EBEX at a float altitude of 118,000 feet.
The principal investigator of the EBEX mission is Dr. Shaul Hanany of the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN.
All three missions are still afloat over the Antarctic continent. They are monitored from the Operations Control Center at NASA’s CSBF in Palestine, Texas. BLAST and EBEX will stay afloat for another week; the flights will then be terminated at a location near McMurdo Station. SuperTIGER may stay afloat for several more weeks.
“I’m very proud of the NASA, CSBF, science, NSF/OPP and USAP personnel who have made this tremendous achievement possible” said Debora Fairbrother, chief of the NASA Balloon Program Office.
The National Science Foundation Office of Polar Programs manages the U.S. Antarctic Program and provides logistic support for all U.S. scientific operations in Antarctica. The NSF Antarctic Support Contractor (ASC) provides material support to the NASA Balloon Program, including support of launch and recovery operations throughout the Antarctic Campaign.
In addition, the Balloon Array for RPSP (Radiation Belt Storm Probes) Relativistic Electron Losses (BARREL) campaign is being conducted separately and independently of the NASA Balloon Program’s LDB Antarctic Campaign. The BARREL missions are hand launched balloons conducted by the science team from the remote sites of SANAE IV and Halley Research Station.
To follow the BARREL campaign activities,
visit: http://relativisticballoons.blogspot.com/
To monitor the real time flight tracks of the balloons on the Internet,
To monitor the real time flight tracks of the balloons on the Internet,
visit: http://www.csbf.nasa.gov/antarctica/ice.htm
For more information about NASA's balloon program on the Internet,
For more information about NASA's balloon program on the Internet,
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NASA's Super-Tiger Balloon Breaks Records While Collecting Data
WASHINGTON
-- A large NASA science balloon has broken two flight duration records
while flying over Antarctica carrying an instrument that detected 50
million cosmic rays.
The Super Trans-Iron Galactic Element Recorder (Super-TIGER) balloon launched at 3:45 p.m. EST, Dec. 8 from the Long Duration Balloon site near McMurdo Station. It spent 55 days, 1 hour, and 34 minutes aloft at 127,000 feet, more than four times the altitude of most commercial airliners, and was brought down to end the mission on Friday. Washington University of St. Louis managed the mission.
On Jan. 24, the Super-TIGER team broke the record for longest flight by a balloon of its size, flying for 46 days. The team broke another record Friday after landing by becoming the longest flight of any heavy-lift scientific balloon, including NASA's Long Duration Balloons. The previous record was set in 2009 by NASA's Super Pressure Balloon test flight at 54 days, 1 hour, and 29 minutes.
"Scientific balloons give scientists the ability to gather critical science data for a long duration at a very low relative cost," said Vernon Jones, NASA's Balloon Program Scientist.
Super-TIGER flew a new instrument for measuring rare elements heavier than iron among the flux of high-energy cosmic rays bombarding Earth from elsewhere in our Milky Way galaxy. The information retrieved from this mission will be used to understand where these energetic atomic nuclei are produced and how they achieve their very high energies.
The balloon gathered so much data it will take scientists about two years to analyze it fully.
"This has been a very successful flight because of the long duration, which allowed us to detect large numbers of cosmic rays," said Dr. Bob Binns, principal investigator of the Super-TIGER mission. "The instrument functioned very well."
The balloon was able to stay aloft as long as it did because of prevailing wind patterns at the South Pole. The launch site takes advantage of anticyclonic, or counter-clockwise, winds circulating from east to west in the stratosphere there. This circulation and the sparse population work together to enable long-duration balloon flights at altitudes above 100,000 feet.
The National Science Foundation (NSF) Office of Polar Programs manages the U.S. Antarctic Program and provides logistic support for all U.S. scientific operations in Antarctica. NSF's Antarctic support contractor supports the launch and recovery operations for NASA's Balloon Program in Antarctica. Mission data were downloaded using NASA's Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System.
For more information about NASA's Balloon Program, visit:
The Super Trans-Iron Galactic Element Recorder (Super-TIGER) balloon launched at 3:45 p.m. EST, Dec. 8 from the Long Duration Balloon site near McMurdo Station. It spent 55 days, 1 hour, and 34 minutes aloft at 127,000 feet, more than four times the altitude of most commercial airliners, and was brought down to end the mission on Friday. Washington University of St. Louis managed the mission.
On Jan. 24, the Super-TIGER team broke the record for longest flight by a balloon of its size, flying for 46 days. The team broke another record Friday after landing by becoming the longest flight of any heavy-lift scientific balloon, including NASA's Long Duration Balloons. The previous record was set in 2009 by NASA's Super Pressure Balloon test flight at 54 days, 1 hour, and 29 minutes.
"Scientific balloons give scientists the ability to gather critical science data for a long duration at a very low relative cost," said Vernon Jones, NASA's Balloon Program Scientist.
Super-TIGER flew a new instrument for measuring rare elements heavier than iron among the flux of high-energy cosmic rays bombarding Earth from elsewhere in our Milky Way galaxy. The information retrieved from this mission will be used to understand where these energetic atomic nuclei are produced and how they achieve their very high energies.
The balloon gathered so much data it will take scientists about two years to analyze it fully.
"This has been a very successful flight because of the long duration, which allowed us to detect large numbers of cosmic rays," said Dr. Bob Binns, principal investigator of the Super-TIGER mission. "The instrument functioned very well."
The balloon was able to stay aloft as long as it did because of prevailing wind patterns at the South Pole. The launch site takes advantage of anticyclonic, or counter-clockwise, winds circulating from east to west in the stratosphere there. This circulation and the sparse population work together to enable long-duration balloon flights at altitudes above 100,000 feet.
The National Science Foundation (NSF) Office of Polar Programs manages the U.S. Antarctic Program and provides logistic support for all U.S. scientific operations in Antarctica. NSF's Antarctic support contractor supports the launch and recovery operations for NASA's Balloon Program in Antarctica. Mission data were downloaded using NASA's Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System.
For more information about NASA's Balloon Program, visit:
NASA
Guillermo Gonzalo Sánchez Achutegui
ayabaca@gmail.com
ayabaca@hotmail.com
ayabaca@yahoo.com
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