NASA Successfully Launches Super Pressure Balloon (Download PDF)

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NASA successfully launched Super pressure balloon from Wanaka Airport, New Zealand. A mission designed to run 100 or more days floating at 110,000 feet (33.5 km) about the globe in the southern hemisphere’s mid-latitude band. While validating the super pressure balloon technology is the main flight objective, the International Extreme Universe Space Observatory on a Super Pressure Balloon (EUSO-SPB) payload is flying as a mission of opportunity.

Image of the Super Pressure Balloon
Image of the Super pressure balloon

Highlights:

The EUSO-SPB is designed to detect high-energy cosmic rays originating from outside our galaxy as they penetrate the Earth’s atmosphere
These high-energy particles enter the atmosphere; they interact with nitrogen molecules in the air and create UV fluorescence light.
The International Extreme Universe Space Observatory on a super pressure balloon (EUSO - SPB) payload is flying as a mission of opportunity
Flying on the payload is a poppy in celebration of Anzac day, a national day of remembrance in New Zealand and Australia.
The balloon travels around the Earth
It may be visible from the ground particularly at sunrise and sunset in the southern hemisphere’s mid – latitudes
It’s expected to circle the planet two or three times.
NASA’s Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility in Palestine, Texas, provides
- Mission planning,
- Engineering services and field operations
At a relatively low cost, NASA heavy-lift balloons have been critical launch vehicles for testing