{ "id": 12262, "url": "http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/12262/", "page_type": "Produced Video", "title": "NASA Launches Super-Pressure Balloon", "description": "NASA successfully launched a super pressure balloon (SPB) from Wanaka Airport, New Zealand, at 11:35 a.m. Tuesday, May 17, (7:35 p.m. EDT Monday, May 16) on a potentially record-breaking, around-the-world test flight.The balloon flies at an altitude of about 110,000 feet, in a layer of Earth's atmosphere known as the stratosphere.The purpose of the flight is to test and validate the SPB technology with the goal of long-duration flight (100+ days) at mid-latitudes. In addition, the gondola is carrying the Compton Spectrometer and Imager (COSI) gamma-ray telescope as a mission of opportunity.Another mission of opportunity is the Carolina Infrasound instrument, a small, 3-kilogram payload with infrasound microphones designed to record acoustic wave field activity in the stratosphere. Developed by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, previous balloon flights of the instrument have recorded low-frequency sounds in the stratosphere, some of which are believed to be new to science.As the balloon travels around the Earth, it may be visible from the ground, particularly at sunrise and sunset, to those who live in the southern hemisphere’s mid-latitudes, such as Argentina and South Africa.NASA’s scientific balloons offer low-cost, near-space access for conducting scientific investigations in fields such as astrophysics, heliophysics and atmospheric research.NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia manages the agency’s scientific balloon flight program with 10 to 15 flights each year from launch sites worldwide. Orbital ATK, which operates NASA’s Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility in Palestine, Texas, provides mission planning, engineering services and field operations for NASA’s scientific balloon program. The CSBF team has launched more than 1,700 scientific balloons in the over 35 years of operation.Track the flight's progress in real-time here. || ", "release_date": "2016-05-19T19:00:00-04:00", "update_date": "2020-01-23T07:20:21-05:00", "main_image": { "id": 424144, "url": "http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a012200/a012262/YOUTUBE_HQ-12262_Balloons1080_youtube_hq.00001_print.jpg", "filename": "YOUTUBE_HQ-12262_Balloons1080_youtube_hq.00001_print.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "Complete transcript available.Watch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.Music credits: The Answer by Laurent Levesque in the KillerTracks catalog.", "width": 1024, "height": 576, "pixels": 589824 }, "main_video": null, "main_credits": { "Produced by": [ { "name": "Joy Ng", "employer": "USRA" } ] }, "progress": "Complete", "media_groups": [ { "id": 333945, "url": "http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/12262/#media_group_333945", "widget": "Basic text with HTML", "title": "", "caption": "", "description": "NASA successfully launched a super pressure balloon (SPB) from Wanaka Airport, New Zealand, at 11:35 a.m. Tuesday, May 17, (7:35 p.m. EDT Monday, May 16) on a potentially record-breaking, around-the-world test flight.

The balloon flies at an altitude of about 110,000 feet, in a layer of Earth's atmosphere known as the stratosphere.
The purpose of the flight is to test and validate the SPB technology with the goal of long-duration flight (100+ days) at mid-latitudes. In addition, the gondola is carrying the Compton Spectrometer and Imager (COSI) gamma-ray telescope as a mission of opportunity.

Another mission of opportunity is the Carolina Infrasound instrument, a small, 3-kilogram payload with infrasound microphones designed to record acoustic wave field activity in the stratosphere. Developed by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, previous balloon flights of the instrument have recorded low-frequency sounds in the stratosphere, some of which are believed to be new to science.

As the balloon travels around the Earth, it may be visible from the ground, particularly at sunrise and sunset, to those who live in the southern hemisphere’s mid-latitudes, such as Argentina and South Africa.

NASA’s scientific balloons offer low-cost, near-space access for conducting scientific investigations in fields such as astrophysics, heliophysics and atmospheric research.

NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia manages the agency’s scientific balloon flight program with 10 to 15 flights each year from launch sites worldwide. Orbital ATK, which operates NASA’s Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility in Palestine, Texas, provides mission planning, engineering services and field operations for NASA’s scientific balloon program. The CSBF team has launched more than 1,700 scientific balloons in the over 35 years of operation.

Track the flight's progress in real-time here.", "items": [], "extra_data": {} }, { "id": 333946, "url": "http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/12262/#media_group_333946", "widget": "Video player", "title": "", "caption": "", "description": "

Complete transcript available.

Watch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.

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720, "pixels": 921600 } }, { "id": 269634, "type": "media", "extra_data": null, "title": null, "caption": null, "instance": { "id": 424148, "url": "http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a012200/a012262/12262_Balloons1080_youtube_hq.webm", "filename": "12262_Balloons1080_youtube_hq.webm", "media_type": "Movie", "alt_text": "Complete transcript available.Watch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.Music credits: The Answer by Laurent Levesque in the KillerTracks catalog.", "width": 1080, "height": 606, "pixels": 654480 } }, { "id": 269635, "type": "media", "extra_data": null, "title": null, "caption": null, "instance": { "id": 424149, "url": "http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a012200/a012262/YOUTUBE_HQ-12262_Balloons1080_youtube_hq.webm", "filename": "YOUTUBE_HQ-12262_Balloons1080_youtube_hq.webm", "media_type": "Movie", "alt_text": "Complete transcript available.Watch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.Music credits: The Answer by Laurent Levesque in the 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}, { "id": 269624, "type": "media", "extra_data": null, "title": null, "caption": null, "instance": { "id": 424140, "url": "http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a012200/a012262/NASA_PODCAST-12262_Balloons1080_ipod_sm.mp4", "filename": "NASA_PODCAST-12262_Balloons1080_ipod_sm.mp4", "media_type": "Movie", "alt_text": "Complete transcript available.Watch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.Music credits: The Answer by Laurent Levesque in the KillerTracks catalog.", "width": 320, "height": 240, "pixels": 76800 } } ], "extra_data": {} }, { "id": 333947, "url": "http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/12262/#media_group_333947", "widget": "Basic text", "title": "For More Information", "caption": "", "description": "See the following sources:\n\n* [http://www.nasa.gov/feature/nasa-super-pressure-balloon-begins-globetrotting-journey/](http://www.nasa.gov/feature/nasa-super-pressure-balloon-begins-globetrotting-journey/)\n* [http://cosi.ssl.berkeley.edu/](http://cosi.ssl.berkeley.edu/)\n* [http://www.nasa.gov/scientificballoons](http://www.nasa.gov/scientificballoons)", "items": [], "extra_data": {} } ], "studio": "gms", "funding_sources": [ "PAO" ], "credits": [ { "role": "Producer", "people": [ { "name": "Joy Ng", "employer": "USRA" } ] }, { "role": "Videographer", "people": [ { "name": "Bill Rodman", "employer": null } ] }, { "role": "Support", "people": [ { "name": "Robert C. Garner", "employer": "USRA" }, { "name": "Karl Hille", "employer": "InuTeq" }, { "name": "Aries Keck", "employer": "ADNET Systems, Inc." }, { "name": "Jeremy Eggers", "employer": "NASA/WFF" } ] }, { "role": "Chief", "people": [ { "name": "Debora Fairbrother", "employer": "NASA/WFF" } ] }, { "role": "Technical support", "people": [ { "name": "Aaron E. Lepsch", "employer": "ADNET Systems, Inc." } ] } ], "missions": [], "series": [ "Balloon", "Narrated Movies" ], "tapes": [], "papers": [], "datasets": [], "nasa_science_categories": [ "Earth" ], "keywords": [ "Balloon", "HDTV" ], "recommended_pages": [], "related": [ { "id": 15088, "url": "http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/15088/", "page_type": "Produced Video", "title": "UC Berkeley Assembles Upcoming COSI Mission", "description": "Engineers Bradley Pafchek and Matt Rubly examine the COSI (Compton Spectrometer and Imager) detector assembly at Space Sciences Laboratory on July 15, 2026. 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The stack sits on a gold base on top of a blue and white frame.", "width": 1024, "height": 682, "pixels": 698368 } }, { "id": 14429, "url": "http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14429/", "page_type": "Produced Video", "title": "NASA's Scientific Balloon Program", "description": "Since its establishment more than 30 years ago, NASA’s Balloon Program has provided high-altitude scientific balloon platforms for scientific and technological investigations, including fundamental scientific discoveries that contribute to our understanding of the Earth, the solar system, and the universe. This short video highlights several key discoveries made with NASA's scientific balloons.Visit nasa.gov/scientificballoons to learn more! || ", "release_date": "2023-10-14T13:00:00-04:00", "update_date": "2023-10-12T15:30:01-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 859693, "url": "http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a014400/a014429/14429_Balloon_Program_thumbnail.jpg", "filename": "14429_Balloon_Program_thumbnail.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "NASA's Scientific Balloon Program OverviewComplete transcript available.Music Credit: “Enviro Tense” by Max Van Thun [GEMA] via Universal Production Music", "width": 1280, "height": 720, "pixels": 921600 } } ], "sources": [], "products": [], "newer_versions": [], "older_versions": [], "alternate_versions": [] }