Two super-pressure balloon (SPB) launches from Wnaka, New Zealand, are planned by NASA’s Scientific Balloon Program to further test and qualify the technology, which could be less expensive than space missions.
NASA is also flying science payloads as missions of opportunity on each balloon, even though the two launches are primarily intended to test the SPB technology. During their planned 100-day flights, the balloons may also be visible from the ground.
Super pressure balloon technology, according to Debbie Fairbrother, NASA’s Balloon Program Office chief based at the agency’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, “is a real game-changer for conducting cutting-edge science at the edge of space at a fraction of the cost of flying into space.”. “Among the mind-blowing work planned this year are missions to peer into space to study galaxy clusters and another to look at high-energy particles from outside our galaxy.”.
“Super pressure balloon technology is a true game changer for performing cutting-edge science at the edge of space at a fraction of the expense of going into space,”
Debbie Fairbrother, NASA’s Balloon Program Office chief based at the agency’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.
Updates on the campaign will be posted on our Super Pressure Balloon blog starting in April, when launch operations are expected to start.
The Super Pressure Balloon Imaging Telescope (SuperBIT) from Princeton University, which uses a wide field of view to image massive galaxy clusters from a balloon platform in a near-space environment, will make its first scheduled flight. SuperBIT will be able to map the dark matter contained in these clusters by measuring the way these massive objects warp the space around them, a process known as “weak gravitational lensing.”.
The University of Chicago’s Extreme Universe Space Observatory 2 (EUSO-2) mission, which aims to expand on data gathered during a 2017 mission, will be launched on the second mission. When cosmic rays from outside our galaxy enter the atmosphere of Earth, EUSO-2 will be able to detect them. Since it is unknown where these particles come from, the information gathered by EUSO-2 will aid in resolving this scientific conundrum.
According to Fairbrother, NASA encourages the general public to keep track of these missions as they travel the world over the mid-latitudes of the Southern Hemisphere. The wind’s velocity and direction at the float’s altitude determine a balloon’s flight path. The missions will spend the majority of their time in the water, and for any land crossings, NASA collaborates with the U.S. Country overflight authorizations will be coordinated by the State Department. These flights can be followed in real time here.
Additionally, NASA makes information about balloon launches and tracking available online at www.nasa.gov/balloons and on its social media channels.
Super-pressure balloon imaging telescope (SuperBIT) payload solar array testing is being done by NASA’s Scientific Balloon Program technicians at Wnaka Airport in New Zealand. SuperBIT is the first of two payloads that will launch via a NASA high-pressure balloon from Wnaka in April. Credit: NASA/Bill Rodman
Three SPBs, one each in 2015, 2016, and 2017, were launched by NASA from Wnaka. The COVID-19 pandemic forced the agency to cancel a 2020 campaign, and a ground system anomaly prevented the agency from launching its 2022 campaign.
Long-duration balloon flight is a significant challenge, and each flight campaign contributes to learnings for enhancing not only the balloon technology but also our operational practices, according to Fairbrother.
For aerial systems, including balloons, maintaining a constant float altitude in the stratosphere is a difficult task. The day-night cycle’s alternating warming and cooling can cause the majority of standard heavy-lift zero-pressure balloons to vary in altitude by as much as 45,000 feet (13 points and 7 km). In order to maintain altitude, mission controllers typically release extra weight in the form of ballast.
In contrast, the SPB is built to maintain positive internal pressure and shape regardless of its surroundings, which keeps the balloon at a stable float altitude without losing ballast.
When fully inflated at its operational float altitude of 110,000 feet (33.5 kilometers), the 18.8 million cubic foot (532,000 cubic meter) balloon, which is filled with helium, is about the size of a football stadium. Long-duration, mid-latitude balloon missions are exclusively launched by NASA from Wnaka.
Together with the Queenstown Lake District Council, the New Zealand Space Agency, and Airways New Zealand, NASA conducts SPB launches from New Zealand.
With 10 to 15 flights per year from launch sites around the world, NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia oversees the agency’s program for scientific balloon flights. Mission planning, engineering services, and field operations are provided for NASA’s scientific balloon program by Peraton, which runs the Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility (CSBF) in Texas.
Over its roughly 40-year history, the CSBF team has launched more than 1,700 scientific balloons. Raven Aerostar is the company that makes NASA’s balloons.
Provided by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
