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Spectacular Balloon Flights From Esrange To Alaska This Spring
Kiruna, Sweden (SPX) Feb 15, 2005 In May and June 2005 a spectacular balloon campaign will take place at Swedish Space Corporation's operational base Esrange near Kiruna in the northern part of Sweden. One large and heavy sub-millimetre-telescope (BLAST) will be launched as well as an engineering test flight of a newly developed ultra-long duration balloon vehicle (ULDB). The campaign is ordered by NASA and the operation will be supported by The National Scientific Balloon Facility (NSBF) in cooperation with the Swedish Space Corporation (SSC) balloon team at Esrange. "We are very excited about working with our Swedish colleagues on the upcoming campaign. It will demonstrate a new long duration, heavy payload balloon capability from the northern hemisphere to the international science community. "SSC and NASA will combine resources to offer significant new opportunities for US and European scientists to fly sophisticated instruments in near space for periods of up to 10 days at very low cost", says Mr. Danny Ball, Site Manager of the NSFB facility in Palestine, Texas. "This campaign is a milestone for SSC. Large investments have been made at Esrange, regarding increased infrastructure and facilities. We are well prepared for the mission and the plan is to carry out similar balloon campaigns together with NASA and also European scientists every summer", says Dr. Olle Norberg, Head of Esrange. BLAST will be lifted up by a giant balloon (1.2 million m3) with the objective of carrying the payload across the Atlantic from Sweden to Alaska. The payload (2.700 kg) will reach an altitude of 40 km and the flight will take about 6-9 days. Never before has such a flight been made, regarding payload weight in combination with altitude, duration and flight trajectory. "BLAST will address some of the most important cosmological and galactic questions regarding the formation and evolution of stars, galaxies and clusters. "It makes use of bolometric arrays to achieve highly sensitive images at three sub-millimetre wavelengths, while at the same time testing technology used in the future ESA sub-millimetre space telescope Herschel to be launched in 2007." The NASA Balloon Program's capabilities are being expanded with the development of the ULDB developed by Aerostar (formerly Raven). This balloon is made of advanced materials and uses a new pumpkin-shaped balloon design to achieve flights with duration of up to 100 days. The ULDB is completely sealed and pressurized in order to maintain constant altitude day and night. With mission duration of up to several months, this new balloon will significantly increase the amount of data that can be collected in one balloon mission. Community Email This Article Comment On This Article Related Links ULDB Project Status Overview BLAST NSBF SSC SpaceDaily Search SpaceDaily Subscribe To SpaceDaily Express Space Tourism, Space Transport and Space Exploration News
NASA Refines Design For Crew Exploration Vehicle
Washington DC (SPX) Jan 12, 2006NASA's Constellation Program is making progress toward selecting a prime contractor to design, develop and build the Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV), America's first new human spacecraft in 30 years. |
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