Latest press release can be found at the NZ Herald
NASA heavy-lift
balloon scheduled for Monday 23 March lift-off
WANAKA,
New Zealand -
Following a week of unsettled
upper-atmospheric and surface weather in the wake of Tropical Cyclone Pam, NASA
is targeting Monday, March 23, for the first launch attempt of the heavy-lift
super pressure balloon from Wanaka, New Zealand.
“Mother
Nature has finally given the ‘go’ for launch,” said Debbie Fairbrother, chief of
NASA’s Balloon Program Office. “The team is focused and ready to move forward on
this potentially record-breaking flight.”
Lift-off is scheduled between 8:30 and
11 a.m. from Wanaka Airport. Updates will be posted on Queenstown Lakes District
Council social media accounts and are also available live via Radio Wanaka 92.2
FM.
Once launched, the pumpkin-shaped
balloon, made from 22-acres of material and as large as a football stadium when
fully inflated, will ascend to a constant float altitude of 110,000 feet (33.5
km). The balloon will travel eastward carrying a 5,000-pound (2,267 kg) payload
consisting of tracking and communications instruments. NASA expects the SPB to
circumnavigate the globe once every one to three weeks, depending on wind speeds
in the stratosphere.
As the balloon travels around the
Earth, it may be visible from the ground, particularly at sunrise and sunset, to
those who live in the southern hemisphere’s mid-latitudes, such as New Zealand,
Argentina, Australia, and South Africa. Anyone may track the progress of the
flight, which includes a map showing the balloon’s real-time location,
at:
NASA seeks to fly the balloon for an
ultra long-duration, potentially up to 100 days, at a stable float altitude. The
current record for an SPB flight is 54 days.
The science and engineering
communities have previously identified ultra long-duration balloon flights at
stable altitudes as playing an important role in providing low cost access to
the near-space environment for science and technology.
Maintaining a constant float altitude
in the stratosphere is a formidable challenge for airborne systems, including
balloons. Most standard heavy-lift zero pressure balloons can vary in altitudes
as great as 45,000 feet (13.7 km) due to the alternating warming and cooling of
the day and night cycle. In response, mission operators typically release excess
weight in the form of ballast to maintain altitude. However, the SPB is designed
to maintain a positive internal pressure and shape irrespective of its
environment, which keeps the balloon at a constant float altitude. Put another
way, in much the same way a car tire pressure changes based on the environment
around it while maintaining its volume, so does the SPB.
This March test mission is set to
validate the SPB technology, which has been under development by NASA for 15
years, according to Fairbrother.
NASA’s scientific balloons offer
low-cost, near-space access for scientific payloads weighing up to 8,000 pounds
for conducting scientific investigations in fields such as astrophysics,
heliophysics and atmospheric research.
NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in
Virginia manages the agency’s scientific balloon program with 10 to 15 flights
each year from launch sites worldwide.
For more information on the NASA Scientific Balloon Program,
visit:
