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WASHINGTON -- NASA and the National Science Foundation launched Monday a scientific balloon to study the effects of cosmic rays on Earth. The launch is one of five scientific balloons scheduled to launch from Antarctica in December.
The Cosmic Ray Energetics And Mass (CREAM) experiment was designed and built at the University of Maryland. CREAM will investigate high energy cosmic-ray particles that originated from distant supernovae explosions in the Milky Way and arrived to Earth.
Two hand-launched space science payloads are next in the balloon schedule. They will carry the Balloon Array for Radiation-belt Relativistic Electron Losses (BARREL) experiment designed and constructed at Dartmouth College. BARREL will provide answers on how and where Earth's Van Allen radiation belts -- which produce the polar aurora -- periodically drain into Earth's upper atmosphere. These test flights will help scientists prepare for similar flight experiments scheduled for launch in 2013 and 2014.
Next in the queue will be a experiment from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia called Balloon Borne Aperture Submillimeter Telescope (BLAST).This will investigate how magnetic fields impede star formation in our galaxy. BLAST’s instrumentation and telescope will collect data to make the first high-resolution images of magnetically polarized dust in a number of nearby star forming regions.
A super pressure balloon test flight also will be conducted. The 14-million-cubic-foot NASA balloon is the largest single-cell, fully-sealed, super-pressure structure ever flown. It is twice the size of a similar balloon flown 54 days from December 2008 to February 2009. NASA’s goal is to eventually develop a 26-million cubic-foot super-pressure balloon, nearly the size of a football stadium.
NASA scientific balloons are composed of a lightweight polyethylene film, similar to sandwich wrap. Flying to altitudes of nearly 25 miles, many of the balloons inflate to almost the size of a football stadium and carry payloads weighing up to 6,000 pounds.
During part of each Antarctic summer, from December to February, NASA and the National Science Foundation conduct a scientific balloon campaign. Two unique geophysical conditions above Antarctica make long-duration balloon flights circumnavigating the continent possible during the three-month period.
A nearly circular pattern of gentle east-to-west winds that lasts for a few weeks allows the recovery of a balloon from roughly the same geographic location and permits a flight path that is almost entirely above land. Balloons are illuminated continuously because the sun never sets during the Antarctic summer. Balloons maintain a constant temperature and altitude, thereby increasing and stabilizing observation times. By contrast, in other areas of the world, daily heating and cooling cycles change the volume of gas in the balloon and cause it to rise and fall, which severely limits fly times.
NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia manages the scientific balloon program for the agency's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Under NASA safety supervision, the launch operations are conducted by the Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility in Palestine, Texas, which is managed by the Physical Science Laboratory of New Mexico State University in Las Cruces. The National Science Foundation manages the U.S. Antarctic Program and provides logistic support for all U.S. scientific operations in Antarctica.
To monitor the real time flight tracks of the balloons, visit: http://www.csbf.nasa.gov/antarctica/ice1011.htm
For more information on NASA’s scientific balloon program, visit: http://sites.wff.nasa.gov/code820
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WASHINGTON -- NASA and the National Science Foundation launched Monday a scientific balloon to study the effects of cosmic rays on Earth. The launch is one of five scientific balloons scheduled to launch from Antarctica in December.
The Cosmic Ray Energetics And Mass (CREAM) experiment was designed and built at the University of Maryland. CREAM will investigate high energy cosmic-ray particles that originated from distant supernovae explosions in the Milky Way and arrived to Earth.
Two hand-launched space science payloads are next in the balloon schedule. They will carry the Balloon Array for Radiation-belt Relativistic Electron Losses (BARREL) experiment designed and constructed at Dartmouth College. BARREL will provide answers on how and where Earth's Van Allen radiation belts -- which produce the polar aurora -- periodically drain into Earth's upper atmosphere. These test flights will help scientists prepare for similar flight experiments scheduled for launch in 2013 and 2014.
Next in the queue will be a experiment from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia called Balloon Borne Aperture Submillimeter Telescope (BLAST).This will investigate how magnetic fields impede star formation in our galaxy. BLAST’s instrumentation and telescope will collect data to make the first high-resolution images of magnetically polarized dust in a number of nearby star forming regions.
A super pressure balloon test flight also will be conducted. The 14-million-cubic-foot NASA balloon is the largest single-cell, fully-sealed, super-pressure structure ever flown. It is twice the size of a similar balloon flown 54 days from December 2008 to February 2009. NASA’s goal is to eventually develop a 26-million cubic-foot super-pressure balloon, nearly the size of a football stadium.
NASA scientific balloons are composed of a lightweight polyethylene film, similar to sandwich wrap. Flying to altitudes of nearly 25 miles, many of the balloons inflate to almost the size of a football stadium and carry payloads weighing up to 6,000 pounds.
During part of each Antarctic summer, from December to February, NASA and the National Science Foundation conduct a scientific balloon campaign. Two unique geophysical conditions above Antarctica make long-duration balloon flights circumnavigating the continent possible during the three-month period.
A nearly circular pattern of gentle east-to-west winds that lasts for a few weeks allows the recovery of a balloon from roughly the same geographic location and permits a flight path that is almost entirely above land. Balloons are illuminated continuously because the sun never sets during the Antarctic summer. Balloons maintain a constant temperature and altitude, thereby increasing and stabilizing observation times. By contrast, in other areas of the world, daily heating and cooling cycles change the volume of gas in the balloon and cause it to rise and fall, which severely limits fly times.
NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia manages the scientific balloon program for the agency's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Under NASA safety supervision, the launch operations are conducted by the Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility in Palestine, Texas, which is managed by the Physical Science Laboratory of New Mexico State University in Las Cruces. The National Science Foundation manages the U.S. Antarctic Program and provides logistic support for all U.S. scientific operations in Antarctica.
To monitor the real time flight tracks of the balloons, visit: http://www.csbf.nasa.gov/antarctica/ice1011.htm
For more information on NASA’s scientific balloon program, visit: http://sites.wff.nasa.gov/code820
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