NASA Super-TIGER balloon shatters flight record
NASA |
Flying
high over Antarctica, a NASA long duration balloon has broken the record for
longest flight by a balloon of its size. The record-breaking balloon, carrying
the Super Trans-Iron Galactic Element Recorder (Super-TIGER) experiment, has
been afloat for 46 days and is on its third orbit around the South Pole.
"This
is an outstanding achievement for NASA's Astrophysics balloon team," said
John Grunsfeld, associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate at
NASA Headquarters in Washington. "Keeping these huge balloons aloft for
such long periods lets us do forefront science that would be difficult to do
otherwise."
Super-TIGER
is flying a new instrument for measuring the rare heavy elements 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 develop an
understanding where these energetic atomic nuclei are produced and how they
achieve their very high energies.
Super-TIGER
launched Dec. 8, 2012, from the long duration balloon site near McMurdo
Station, Antarctica. The massive 39-million cubic foot scientific balloon
carries the 6,000 pound Super-TIGER payload -- equivalent to a large sports
utility vehicle -- at a float altitude of 127,000 feet, more than four times
the altitude of most commercial airliners. Size-wise, more than 200 blimps
could fit inside the balloon.
The
Super-TIGER flight shattered the previous record of 41 days and 22 hours,
previously set in 2005. The Super-TIGER team plans to fly for another 8-10 days
to have it fly closer to McMurdo Station before terminating the flight and
recovering the experiment.
"It
has taken eight years, but we are so excited about breaking the long duration
balloon record. In addition, it looks like the Super-Tiger flight, which is
still collecting science data, will raise the bar by a week or two," said
Debora Fairbrother, chief of the Scientific Balloon Program Office at NASA's
Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.
The
long duration balloon site at Willy Field, McMurdo Station, takes advantage of
the stratospheric anti-cyclonic 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.
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 provides material support to
the NASA Balloon Program, including support of launch and recovery operations
throughout the Antarctic Campaign.
The
principal investigator of the Super-TIGER mission is Dr. Walter Binns of
Washington University, St. Louis, Mo.
NASA's
Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility in Palestine, Texas, is responsible for
launch operations and command and control of the balloon during flight.
Source: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
DON’T
FORGET TO-
Leave Your Comments!
Posted by Unknown
on Friday, January 25, 2013.
Filed under
Space and Time
.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0