Jan 8 2009
From The Space Library
NASA and the National Science Foundation (NSF) announced the successful flight test of a newly designed super-pressure balloon prototype intended to carry large scientific experiments to the edge of space on missions lasting a minimum of 100 days. The project’s goal was to design a 22-million-cubic-foot (67-million-cubic-meter) balloon that would carry an instrument weighing up to 1 ton (907 kilograms, or 0.9 tonne) to an altitude of more than 110,000 feet (33,528 meters). The test flight launched a 7-million-cubic-foot (2.13-million-cubic-meter) balloon, the largest single-cell, super-pressure, fully sealed balloon flown to date. The launch took place on 28 December 2008 from McMurdo Station, NSF’s logistics hub in Antarctica. Successfully demonstrating the durability and functionality of its unique pumpkin shape and novel material—a lightweight polyethylene film approximately the thickness of plastic food wrap. The balloon reached a float altitude of more than 111,000 feet (33,833 meters), which it was still maintaining on 8 January, its eleventh day of flight.
NASA, “New NASA Balloon Successfully Flight-Tested Over Antarctica,” news release 09-003, 8 January 2009, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2009/jan/HQ_09-003_Antarctic_Balloons.html (accessed 14 January 2011).
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