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
A scientific balloon is inflated for the Salter Test Flight before being released during NASA’s 2023 fall balloon campaign. The test flight returns for the 2024 campaign in Fort Sumner, New Mexico, carrying several smaller payloads.NASA’s Scientific Balloon Program has kicked off its annual fall balloon campaign at the agency’s balloon launch facility in Fort Sumner, New Mexico.
The flights will support 16 missions, including investigations in the fields of astrophysics, heliophysics, and atmospheric research. “The annual Fort Sumner campaign is the cornerstone of the NASA Balloon Program operations,” said Andrew Hamilton, acting chief of NASA’s Balloon Program Office. “Not only are we launching a large number of missions, but these flights set the foundation for follow-on missions from our long-duration launch facilities in Antarctica, New Zealand, and Sweden.
“The whole EXCITE team is looking forward to our upcoming field campaign and launch opportunity from Fort Sumner,” said Nagler. “We’re bringing a more capable instrument than we did last year and are excited to prove EXCITE from North America before we bring it to the Antarctic for our future long-duration science flight.”: This platform supports up to 12 student payloads and assists in training the next generation of aerospace scientists and engineers.
Zero-pressure balloons, used in this campaign, are in thermal equilibrium with their surroundings as they fly. They maintain a zero-pressure differential with ducts that allow gas to escape to prevent an increase in pressure from inside the balloons as they rise above Earth’s surface. This zero-pressure design makes the balloons very robust and well-suited for short, domestic flights, such as those in this campaign.
Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Balloons Wallops Flight Facility
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