By Olivia F. Littleton, NASA
November 30, 2023
NASAs yearly Antarctic Long Duration Balloon Campaign, starting around December 1, will launch 3 scientific balloons from McMurdo Station, Antarctica. These balloons will support five objectives, including the GUSTO mission to map parts of the Milky Way.
NASAs Antarctic Long Duration Balloon Campaign consists of the GUSTO mission to map the Milky Way and other objectives for cosmic ray measurement and innovation testing. The campaign makes the most of Antarcticas summer season conditions for extended near-space flights.
NASA begins its annual Antarctic Long Duration Balloon Campaign around Dec. 1, which includes 3 scientific balloon flights prepared for launch from the long-duration balloon (LDB) Camp near McMurdo Station, Antarctica. NASAs stadium-sized, zero-pressure balloons will support an overall of five objectives on the long-duration flights with one mission competing to break NASAs heavy-lift, long-duration balloon flight record, which stands at 55 days, 1 hour, and 34 minutes.
” The yearly Antarctic long-duration balloon campaign is the programs flagship event for long-duration objectives,” stated Andrew Hamilton, acting chief of NASAs Balloon Program Office (BPO). “The environment and stratospheric wind conditions offer a distinct and important chance to fly missions in a near-space environment for days or weeks at a time. The BPO team is excited to supply assistance to all our objectives this year.”
A scientific balloon payload is being gotten ready for launch in McMurdo Station, Antarctica. Credit: NASAs Wallops Flight Facility
GUSTO: The Campaigns Highlight
Headlining this years project is the Galactic/Extragalactic ULDB Spectroscopic Terahertz Observatory (GUSTO) mission. This Astrophysics objective is handled by NASAs Explorers Program Office at Goddard Space Flight Center. The objective is led by primary private investigator Christopher Walker from the University of Arizona with assistance from the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory.
GUSTO will go for 55-plus days in flight above the southernmost hemispheres skies to map a big part of the Milky Way galaxy, consisting of the stellar center, and the close-by Large Magellanic Cloud. The GUSTO telescope is equipped with extremely sensitive detectors for nitrogen, carbon, and oxygen emission lines. Determining these emission lines will give the GUSTO team deep insight into the complete lifecycle of the interstellar medium, the cosmic product discovered between stars.
GUSTOs science observations will be performed from Antarctica to allow for adequate observation time aloft, access to astronomical things, and solar energy offered by the austral summer season in the polar region.
A NASA clinical balloon awaits launch in McMurdo, Antarctica. Credit: NASA
Extra missions set to fly during the Antarctic LDB campaign consist of:
” The yearly Antarctic long-duration balloon campaign is the programs flagship event for long-duration missions,” said Andrew Hamilton, acting chief of NASAs Balloon Program Office (BPO). AESOP-Lite will fly on a 60 million cubic feet balloon, a test flight set to qualify the balloon for reaching elevations higher than 150,000 feet, which is higher than NASAs present stratospheric stock.
Zero-pressure balloons include open ducts that allow gas to prevent a boost and escape in pressure from inside the balloon. These balloons, which usually have a much shorter flight period due to the loss of gas from the cycle of day to night, can only fly long-duration objectives throughout the continuous daylight of summer in polar regions, where the balloon stays in constant sunshine.
Peraton, which runs NASAs Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility (CSBF) in Texas, supplies objective planning, engineering services, and field operations for NASAs scientific balloon program.
Zero-pressure balloons feature open ducts that permit gas to avoid an increase and get away in pressure from inside the balloon. Gas growth takes place as it warms throughout the balloons rise above the Earths surface area or by temperature boosts from a rising Sun. These balloons, which generally have a much shorter flight period due to the loss of gas from the cycle of day to night, can only fly long-duration missions throughout the continuous daylight of summer season in polar areas, where the balloon stays in continuous sunshine.
NASAs Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia manages the agencys scientific balloon flight program with 10 to 15 flights each year from launch websites worldwide. Peraton, which operates NASAs Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility (CSBF) in Texas, offers mission preparation, engineering services, and field operations for NASAs clinical balloon program. The CSBF team has actually released more than 1,700 scientific balloons over some 40 years of operations. NASAs balloons are fabricated by Aerostar. The NASA Scientific Balloon Program is funded by the NASA Headquarters Science Mission Directorate Astrophysics Division.
Anti-Electron Sub-Orbital Payload (AESOP-Lite): The mission, led by a group from the University of Delaware and University of California Santa Cruz, will determine cosmic-ray electrons and positrons. These electron measurements will be compared to Voyager I and II, which reached interstellar area and have been measuring cosmic ray electrons given that 2012 and 2018, respectively. AESOP-Lite will fly on a 60 million cubic feet balloon, a test flight set to certify the balloon for reaching elevations higher than 150,000 feet, which is higher than NASAs current stratospheric inventory.
Long period evalUation solaR hand LAunch (LAURA): This engineering test flight, led by NASAs Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility, will utilize photovoltaic panels to extend the science capability of the hand launch platform from a couple of days in flight to long-duration flights. Hand-launched balloons are about 40 times smaller in volume than the heavy-lift balloons and have limited time aloft due to the quantity and weight of batteries used for powering the science and balloon instruments.
Anihala (Antarctic Infrasound Hand Launch): This piggyback payload on the AESOP-Lite launch, a cooperative mission between the Swedish Institute of Space Physics and Sandia National Lab, aims to measure natural background sound in the stratosphere over a continent where human-generated sound is mostly missing.