NASA : NASA TV Airs Discussion on Removing Barriers to Deep Space Exploration

The first Cygnus commercial cargo spacecraft built by Orbital Sciences Corp., seen here attached to the International Space Station's Harmony node, will leave the orbital outpost this week.

Image Credit: NASA

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NASA is once again open for business in a big way. While we were out, several of our on-going missions achieved significant milestones, and although it will take a little time to fully assess the impacts of the government shut down on our other operations, this week will make clear we’re back to our core mission implementing America’s ambitious space program.

Our latest moon mission, the Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer, or LADEE, entered lunar orbit on Oct. 6th, and now is preparing to begin its study of the moon’s atmosphere. We also are pleased that the Lunar Laser Communication Demonstration currently orbiting the moon with LADEE achieved an error-free laser communication downlink with a data rate in excess of 300 megabits-per-second. This new NASA-developed, laser-based space communication system will enable higher rates of satellite communications, similar to the high-speed fiber optic networks we have here on Earth. This will dramatically improve space communication, especially during future human missions to an asteroid and Mars.

 

Left to right: Expedition 38 Flight Engineer Koichi Wakata, Soyuz Commander Mikhail Tyurin and NASA Flight Engineer Rick Mastracchio clasp hands in front of a Soyuz simulator during final qualification exams ahead of their Nov. 7 launch to the space station.

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Earth as seen from the Juno spacecraft during the gravity assist flyby on Oct. 9.

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On Oct. 9th, our Juno spacecraft, launched in 2011 on a five-year journey to Jupiter, made its closest approach to Earth. This gave Juno a chance to take some stunning pictures of our planet and it gave us the opportunity to confirm that the spacecraft is operating as expected with a current trajectory that is “near perfect.”

Looking ahead for this week, the Orbital Sciences' Cygnus cargo spacecraft that was launched from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility on Sept.18, will complete its successful maiden cargo mission on Tuesday when it un-berths from the International Space Station and burns up harmlessly in Earth’s atmosphere during re-entry the following day. Orbital joins SpaceX as NASA’s second American commercial partner capable of successful resupply missions to the ISS. Sierra Nevada Corp. is poised to resume testing of its Dream Chaser spacecraft at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center in California. Sierra Nevada Corp., Boeing and SpaceX are among the U.S. companies working with NASA to develop commercial crew transportation vehicles. Our commitment to launching astronauts from American soil again soon is moving forward.

Things are getting busy at the International Space Station, humanity's home away from Earth for almost 13 years now. The European Space Agency’s Automated Transfer Vehicle-4 is set to undock on Oct. 28 after more than four months at the station. Then, on Nov. 1, Expedition 37 crewmates Karen Nyberg, Luca Parmitano and Fyodor Yurchikhin will relocate their Soyuz 35 from one station docking port to another.

Less than a week later on Nov. 7, three new station crew members -- NASA astronaut Rick Mastracchio, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Koichi Wakata and Soyuz commander Mikhail Tyurin of the Russian Federal Space Agency – will launch aboard their Soyuz 37 spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome and dock to the station about six hours later.

For four days, nine astronauts and cosmonauts will live and work together aboard the station before Yurchikhin, Nyberg and Parmitano return to Earth after more than five months in space.

Meanwhile, the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) spacecraft remains on track for a Nov.18th launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. MAVEN is the first spacecraft devoted to exploring and understanding the Martian upper atmosphere. It will orbit the planet in an elliptical orbit that allows it to pass through and sample the entire upper atmosphere on every orbit. The spacecraft will investigate how the loss of Mars’ atmosphere to space determined the history of water on the surface.

Finally, on a sad note, on Oct.10, in the midst of the shutdown, we learned of the passing of Scott Carpenter, who in 1962 became the second American to orbit Earth. Scott was one of the original Mercury 7 astronauts who helped set the stage for more than a half-century of American leadership in space. We will miss his passion, his talent and his life-long commitment to exploration.

As we power back up, we draw inspiration from the legacy of Carpenter and so many others who overcame every obstacle to keep NASA flying high.

 

NASA TV Airs Discussion on Removing Barriers to Deep Space Exploration

NASA Television will air a roundtable discussion with aerospace industry leaders at 9 a.m. EST Tuesday, Nov. 12 about the progress being made toward sending humans into deep space.

The live broadcast will take place at the Newseum, 555 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, in Washington, and is open to visitors with paid admission.
Panelists representing NASA and its prime contractors will discuss the work being done on the agency's Orion spacecraft and Space Launch System rocket, which will carry humans farther into space than ever before. The participants are:
-- William Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for human exploration and operations, NASA
-- Julie Van Kleek, vice president, advanced space and launch programs, Aerojet Rocketdyne
-- Charlie Precourt, vice president and general manager, ATK Space Launch Division
-- John Elbon, vice president and general manager, Boeing Space Exploration
-- Jim Crocker, vice president and general manager, civil space, Lockheed Martin Space Systems
Orion and the Space Launch System will provide the United States an entirely new human space exploration capability, a flexible system that can extend human presence beyond low-Earth orbit and enable new missions of exploration in our solar system.
The discussion is sponsored by TechAmerica's Space Enterprise Council in partnership with the George Marshall Institute and the Coalition for Space Exploration.
There will be time for media to ask questions following the discussion. Media wanting to attend the broadcast must contact Sean Wilson at 832-864-3518 or
 sean@griffincg.com
by 5 p.m. Friday, Nov. 8.
For more information on NASA's human deep space exploration, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/exploration

For NASA TV streaming video, downlink and scheduling information, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/nasatv

 

NASA

Guillermo Gonzalo Sánchez Achutegui

ayabaca@gmail.com

ayabaca@hotmail.com

ayabaca@yahoo.com

NASA - Updated Cygnus Rendezvous Date, NASA TV Coverage for Orbital Sciences' Demonstration Mission to International Space Station

Canadarm2 Captures Cygnus

The Cygnus commercial resupply craft is installed by the Canadarm2 to the Harmony node.

Image Credit: NASA TV

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The Cygnus cargo spacecraft is just a few feet away from the International Space Station's Canadarm2.

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Cygnus approaches the International Space Station.

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A week after its original approach date, Orbital Sciences’ commercial cargo craft Cygnus has arrived at the International Space Station. The Expedition 37 crew captured Cygnus with the Canadarm2 at 7 a.m. EDT Sunday. Cygnus launched Sept. 18 aboard an Antares rocket from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.

› Read more about Cygnus

Orbital Sciences uploaded a software fix for a navigation data mismatch that occurred during its approach Sept. 22. NASA managers opted to wait until after Wednesday’s Soyuz launch and docking to restart capture and berthing activities.

Cygnus was operating safely behind the space station by about 1,491 miles while mission managers and ground controllers tested the software patch and planned Sunday’s second approach attempt. Cygnus began a series of thruster burns towards the orbital laboratory Thursday night after station managers gave their final approval.

As Cygnus met its demonstration objectives and moved closer to the space station, Expedition 37 Flight Engineers Luca Parmitano and Karen Nyberg watched and worked in tandem with Mission Control. Parmitano was in the cupola at the Canadarm2 controls monitoring its approach. Nyberg was his back up at the secondary robotics workstation inside the Destiny laboratory.

› View Cygnus mission briefing graphics
› Read about Cygnus’ launch

When Cygnus met its final demonstration objective of pointing a tracking laser at a reflector on the Kibo laboratory it moved to its capture point about 10 meters from the station. Cygnus turned off its thrusters, operated in free drift, and Parmitano maneuvered the Canadarm2 to grapple and capture Cygnus.

Parmitano operated the Canadarm2 to move Cygnus and attached it to the Harmony node at 8:44 a.m. The hatches to Cygnus will be opened Monday afternoon after leak checks and power connections.

Orbital Sciences is the second company to send a commercial cargo craft to the space station. SpaceX was the first company to send its own cargo ship with two successful commercial resupply missions and two demonstration missions under its belt.

 

Updated Cygnus Rendezvous Date, NASA TV Coverage for Orbital Sciences' Demonstration Mission to International Space Station

 

NASA and its International Space Station partners have approved a Sunday, Sept. 29, target arrival of Orbital Sciences' Cygnus spacecraft on its demonstration cargo resupply mission to the space station.

NASA Television coverage of the rendezvous will begin at 4:30 a.m. EDT and will continue through the capture and installation of the Cygnus spacecraft. For the latest schedule for spacecraft capture and installation, as well as the post-berthing news conference, visit:

http://go.nasa.gov/19M65lk

Orbital Sciences Corp. of Dulles, Va., launched the Cygnus spacecraft on the company's Antares rocket Sept. 18 from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport Pad-0A at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.

International Space Station Expedition 37 crew members Karen Nyberg of NASA and Luca Parmitano of the European Space Agency will capture the spacecraft using the space station's robotic arm. They then will install Cygnus on the bottom of the station's Harmony module.

Cygnus will deliver about 1,300 pounds (589 kilograms) of cargo, including student experiments, food and clothing, to the space station. Future Cygnus flights will ensure a robust national capability to deliver critical science research to orbit, significantly increasing NASA's ability to conduct new science investigations to the only laboratory in microgravity.

Cygnus had been scheduled for a rendezvous with the space station on Sept. 22. Due to a data format mismatch, the first rendezvous attempt was postponed. Orbital has since updated and tested a software patch. Cygnus' arrival also was postponed pending the Sept. 25 arrival of the Expedition 37 crew. Flight Engineer Michael Hopkins of NASA and Soyuz Commander Oleg Kotov and Flight Engineer Sergey Ryazanskiy of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) arrived at the space station aboard a Soyuz spacecraft at 10:45 p.m. Wednesday.

The updated Sunday rendezvous and approach will include originally planned tests to validate Cygnus' performance as it approaches the space station.

Orbital built, and is testing, Cygnus under NASA’s Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) Program. The successful completion of the COTS demonstration mission will pave the way for Orbital to conduct eight planned cargo resupply flights to the space station through NASA’s $1.9 billion Commercial Resupply Services contract with the company.

For NASA TV streaming video, downlink and scheduling information, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/nasatv

For more information about the mission and the International Space Station, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/station

NASA

Guillermo Gonzalo Sánchez Achutegui

ayabaca@gmail.com

ayabaca@hotmail.com

ayabaca@yahoo.com

NASA - NASA Partner Orbital Sciences Launches Demonstration Mission to Space Station

Cygnus Rendezvous Delayed 48 Hours

 

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The Antares rocket carrying the Cygnus commercial cargo craft lifts off from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport's Launch Pad-0A at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.

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Cygnus is on its way to rendezvous with the space station. The spacecraft will deliver about 1,300 pounds (589 kilograms) of cargo, including food and clothing, to the Expedition 37 crew.

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Orbital Sciences has confirmed Sunday morning, around 1:30 a.m. EDT, its Cygnus spacecraft established direct data contact with the International Space Station (ISS) and found that some of the data received had values that it did not expect, causing Cygnus to reject the data. This mandated an interruption of the approach sequence. Orbital has subsequently found the causes of this discrepancy and is developing a software fix. The minimum turnaround time to resume the approach to the ISS following an interruption such as this is approximately 48 hours due to orbital mechanics of the approach trajectory.

Expedition 37 crew members aboard the space station now will have an off-duty day in advance of a busy week ahead. This includes Tuesday's Cygnus rendezvous, followed by preparations for the arrival of three new crew members Wednesday. Michael Hopkins of NASA and Oleg Kotov and Sergey Ryazanskiy of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) will depart from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 4:58 p.m. EDT aboard a Soyuz spacecraft.

Cygnus launched Wednesday aboard an Antares rocket at 10:58 a.m. EDT from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia after a 24 hour delay due to poor weather preventing its roll-out to the launch pad.

› For updates on the status of Cygnus, visit Orbital's page

It has several demonstration objectives it must complete before NASA approves its capture by the Canadarm2 and its berthing to the Harmony node. The Cygnus has already achieved three of its demonstration objectives during its first two days in orbit. The vehicle first demonstrated its position and control ability, or its ability to orient itself in space; second, the vehicle turned off its engines and operated while in free drift; third, Cygnus conducted a demonstration abort maneuver.

› View Cygnus mission briefing graphics
› Read about Cygnus’ launch

Before any new cargo craft can approach and rendezvous with the station for the first time it must meet a set of objectives to prove its capabilities before it is finally captured or docked. The resupply craft is followed closely by mission controllers on its way to the station. When the spacecraft reaches certain points along its trajectory the flight director polls mission controllers before giving the “go/no-go” decision to proceed to its next point.

As Cygnus meets its demonstration objectives and moves closer to the space station, Expedition 37 Flight Engineers Luca Parmitano and Karen Nyberg will be watching and working in tandem with Mission Control. Parmitano will be in the cupola at the Canadarm2 controls monitoring its approach. Nyberg will be his back up at the secondary robotics workstation inside the Destiny laboratory.

When Cygnus meets its final demonstration objective of pointing a tracking laser at a reflector on the Kibo laboratory it will move to its capture point about 10 meters from the station. Cygnus will turn off its thrusters, operating in free drift, and Parmitano will maneuver the Canadarm2 to grapple and capture the new resupply craft.

After capture, Parmitano will operate the Canadarm2 to move Cygnus and attach it to the Harmony node. The hatches to Cygnus are planned to be opened following leak checks and power connections.

Orbital Sciences is the second company to send a commercial cargo craft to the space station. SpaceX was the first company to send its own cargo ship with two successful commercial resupply missions and two demonstration missions under its belt.

 

NASA Partner Orbital Sciences Launches Demonstration Mission to Space Station

NASA commercial space partner Orbital Sciences Corporation of Dulles, Va., successfully launched its Cygnus cargo spacecraft aboard its Antares rocket at 10:58 a.m. EDT Wednesday from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport Pad-0A at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.
This is the first time a spacecraft launched from Virginia is blazing a trail toward the International Space Station, heralding a new U.S. capability to resupply the orbiting laboratory.
Traveling 17,500 mph in Earth's orbit, Cygnus is on its way to rendezvous with the space station Sunday, Sept. 22. The spacecraft will deliver about 1,300 pounds (589 kilograms) of cargo, including food and clothing, to the Expedition 37 crew, who will grapple and attach the capsule using the station's robotic arm.
"Today marks a milestone in our new era of exploration as we expand the capability for making cargo launches to the International Space Station from American shores," said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden. "Orbital's extraordinary efforts are helping us fulfill the promise of American innovation to maintain our nation's leadership in space."
Orbital is building and testing its Antares rocket and Cygnus spacecraft under NASA’s Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) Program. The successful completion of the COTS demonstration mission will pave the way for Orbital to conduct eight planned cargo resupply flights to the space station through NASA’s $1.9 billion Commercial Resupply Services contract with the company.
Future Cygnus flights will significantly increase NASA's ability to deliver new science investigations to the only laboratory in microgravity. As one of two U.S. carriers capable of providing cargo resupply missions to the space station, a successful demonstration mission will ensure a robust national capability to deliver critical science payloads to orbit. NASA's other cargo resupply provider, Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX), began flying regular cargo missions to the space station in 2012, following its own COTS demonstration mission.
"Today’s launch is the culmination of more than five years’ work between the NASA and Orbital teams," said Alan Lindenmoyer, NASA’s program manager for commercial crew and cargo. "Everyone involved should be extremely proud, and we are looking forward to a successful series of checkouts between now and when Cygnus reaches the space station this weekend."
Over the next several days, Cygnus will perform a series of maneuvers to test and prove its systems, ensuring it can safely enter the so-called "keep-out sphere" of the space station, a 656-foot (200-meter) radius surrounding the complex.
NASA Television coverage for grapple and berthing operations will begin at 4:30 a.m. Sept. 22 and continue through the capture and installation of the Cygnus spacecraft. Capture is scheduled for about 7:25 a.m. with installation of the spacecraft beginning around 9 a.m.
A joint news conference will take place at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston and at Orbital's Headquarters at 45101 Warp Drive, in Dulles, Va., at about 1 p.m. EDT, after Cygnus operations are complete. The briefing will be carried live on NASA TV and the agency's website. Media may participate by telephone by calling the Johnson newsroom at 218-483-5111 no later than 15 minutes prior to the start of the briefing. Media interested in attending the briefing in Houston should contact Johnson's newsroom no later than 5 p.m. EDT Friday, Sept. 20. Media with U.S. citizenship who want to attend the briefing at Orbital should contact Barron Beneski at 703-406-5528 or public.relations@orbital.com by noon Friday, Sept. 20. The registration deadline for non-U.S. citizens has passed.
NASA initiatives such as COTS are helping to develop a robust U.S. commercial space transportation industry with the goal of achieving safe, reliable and cost-effective transportation to and from the International Space Station and low-Earth orbit. NASA’s Commercial Crew Program also is working with commercial space partners to develop capabilities to launch U.S. astronauts from American soil in the next few years.
The International Space Station is a convergence of science, technology and human innovation that demonstrates new technologies and makes research breakthroughs not possible on Earth. The space station has had continuous human occupation since November 2000. In that time it has been visited by more than 200 people and a variety of international and commercial spacecraft. The space station remains the springboard to NASA's next great leap in exploration, including future missions to an asteroid and Mars.
For more information about the Orbital demonstration mission, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/orbital

For more information about the International Space Station, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/station

NASA

Guillermo Gonzalo Sánchez Achutegui

ayabaca@gmail.com

ayabaca@hotmail.com

ayabaca@yahoo.com

NASA - NASA's Super-Tiger Balloon Breaks Records While Collecting Data

NASA's Three Long Duration Balloon Missions Working Over Antarctica
2013-01-08

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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, 

visit: http://www.csbf.nasa.gov/antarctica/ice.htm

For more information about NASA's balloon program on the Internet, 

visit: http://www.wff.nasa.gov/balloons

 

Feature Articles

NASA's Three Long Duration Balloon Missions Working Over Antarctica - Jan 08, 2013 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)… Read More Christmas Day BLAST! - Dec 26, 2012 NASA launched the Balloon-borne Large-Aperture Submillimeter Telescope or BLAST payload Dec. 25 from McMurdo Station, Antarctica, using a long duration balloon or LDB… Read More Antarctic Balloon Campaign Underway - Dec 10, 2012 NASA's Balloon Program Office based at Wallops Flight Facility kicked off the winter Antarctic balloon campaign this weekend in McMurdo Station, Antarctica. On Saturday, December 8, the SuperTIGER payload was launched… Read More NASA's Balloon Program Prepares for Antarctic Campaign! - Nov 27, 2012 NASA's Balloon Program Office based at Wallops Flight Facility is preparing for the annual winter Antarctic Campaign in McMurdo Station, Antarctica. This year's campaign features three missions: Super-TIGER, EBEX, and… Read More 2011-2012 Antarctica Campaign - Feb 8, 2012 After a late start the Antarctica campaign closed out with the successful flights of CREST and STO. Cosmic Ray Electron Synchrotron Telescope (CREST) - Dr. James Musser, Indiana University, was launched on December 25, and was… Read More

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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:

http://www.wff.nasa.gov/balloons

NASA

Guillermo Gonzalo Sánchez Achutegui

ayabaca@gmail.com

ayabaca@hotmail.com

ayabaca@yahoo.com