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The longest haul: NASA’s balloons fly for 100 days
0 commentThe space agency’s balloons fly three times as high as an airliner
In April, NASA launched its latest scientific balloon from Wānaka Airport on New Zealand’s South Island. The ‘super pressure’ aircraft is roughly the size of a football stadium – yes, really – and is due to spend more than three months flying around the southern hemisphere’s mid-latitudes, where it will measure so-called neutral wind in the upper atmosphere. The team behind the mission hope the findings will help scientists predict changes in the ionosphere, which can affect communication and navigation systems.
Shaped like pumpkins, NASA’s balloons really are a modern engineering marvel. Because they’re completely sealed, with no open ducts, gas can’t escape, meaning pressure builds up as the gas expands. It’s this innovation that allows them to fly for far longer than traditional hot air balloons. The latest, for example, measures a frankly gigantic 18.8 million cubic feet.
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