it's been called the quiet workhorse of
space science a means of transporting
ambitious and hefty scientific
experiments to the edge of space
started places that if I got air plugs
and also while the technology may seem
old-fashioned it remains the quickest
and most cost-efficient avenue near
space
when you compare to satellite missions
that take five to seven years to develop
and millions of dollars scientific
ballooning can be done on a fraction of
that budget and a fraction of that time
from the study of the atmosphere to the
origins of the universe it's been the
vehicle for some of the most significant
scientific discoveries of our time and
the future holds even more promise for
one of the greatest scientific stories
never told
no one launches more scientific balloons
from more places around the world than
NASA's columbia scientific balloon
facility based in Palestine Texas the
strength of the program is that we can
fly very heavy payloads up to 8,000
pounds and very large payloads we can
put those experiments into their space
above ninety nine point five percent of
the Earth's atmosphere the scientific
balloons they use are made of an
incredibly thin polyethylene film only
point zero two centimeters thick the
thickness of an ordinary sandwich bag
they can fly that 8,000 pound payload
the weight of three small cars nearly 23
miles high to an invisible ceiling where
the atmosphere ends and space begins and
can stay there writing upper atmospheric
winds up to six weeks
due to the natural difference in density
between the helium gas used to fill the
balloons and the air as these zero
pressure balloons ascend in the
atmosphere they expand two volumes of up
to 40 million cubic feet nearly the size
of a stadium like the louisiana
superdome but to launch those into space
would take a very expensive launch
vehicle we really literally on hundred
million dollars launch and when we do
these for you know what certainly 100th
of that Orleans and we can have greater
access to space more frequent flights of
science and in the end the scientist
gets their paperback
from New Mexico to Arctic sweden and
Australia to the coldest driest
continent Antarctica the Columbia
scientific balloon facility launches 15
to 20 balloons a year over 425 campaign
alright guys ready locations are
typically dictated by science longer
data-gathering airtime any science that
can be done above about ninety nine
point five percent of the Earth's
atmosphere either looking up or looking
down can be done on balloons the
scientists using scientific balloons
include some of the world's most
seasoned researchers and university
professors even graduate students young
scientists can design the experiment
build the experiment try the experiment
and analyze the data go through all
aspects of spaceman which is not
possible with our large facebook large
basement and ballooning is a vehicle for
world-class science
in the mid-nineteen eighties and ozone
hole was discovered over the Antarctic
continent the initial measurements were
all made from scientific balloons
another high-profile balloon Warren
experiment called bloomery in 1998
showed the geometry of the universe is
basically flat and continually expanding
the finding consistent with the big bang
theory and in 2003 cosmic-ray experiment
called cream orbited the South Pole
three times setting a long-duration
scientific balloon record of 42 days at
float 15 years ago this capability would
have been unheard of and we got quite a
bit of attention in the science
community from people who are interested
in these extended duration flights
getting beyond the atmosphere by balloon
involves handing complete responsibility
for the scientific payload and launched
to the Columbia scientific balloon
facility crew so i'll be communicating
with them all the time
while there are subtle rigging
differences from launch to launch based
on specific scientific needs whether
launching from Sweden or here in Fort
Sumner New Mexico the main layout of a
typical scientific balloon flight train
is essentially identical this hands-on
rigging remains one of the most complex
and critically important processes
we'll set a showtime will come out we'll
hang the gunboat then we'll go out to
the launch pad
it begins with the pickup of a
scientific payload with a specially
designed launch vehicle and attached to
the payload will be suspension cables
that will go upward to what we call a
truck plate that truck plate is actually
holding the entire flight system to the
launch vehicle from that truck plate
there will be a suspension ladder that
will go over the launch vehicle and that
will connect down to the parachute
separate unit building this unit
separates the parachute from the payload
to prevent a Winfield parachute from
dragging and damaging the payload after
termination the nylon parachutes range
in size from 46 feet to 159 feet in
diameter for the largest payloads and
then we'll have the terminate fitting
which is the link between the parachute
and the balloon that that terminate
fitting will have an explosive device on
it that will initiate to bring the
balloon down at the conclusion of the
fight and then connects to the terminate
fitting will be the balloon itself and
on top of the balloon will be helium
valve will open at the end of the flight
as a secondary measure to terminate the
balloon
they are data before a payload is
declared light ready it undergoes a
dress rehearsal of sorts all the
compatibility check if I dated again
that's an exercise where the palers
taken out and typically hung from the
launch vehicle and the instrument is
fired up in its entirety all of the
functions are tested and when the
scientists determines that CS BF gear is
not interfering with what he's trying to
do and vice versa then the payload is
declared flight-ready here to limit ree
the ability to send and receive data and
control functions to and from the
payload is tested and confirmed there's
two types of telemetry one is used on
relatively short flights that might last
anywhere between 6 and 48 hours that's
called line-of-sight telemetry
line-of-sight typically gives the
sciences the first initial couple hours
of float data they can thereby look at
the other instruments performing for
longer duration over the horizon flights
satellite-based to limit Ruiz used of
the two line-of-sight bandwidth is
considerably greater we can actually go
up to about 1 megabit per second and
have multiple one- screams coming down
from the payload enough bandwidth to
allow scientists to completely reprogram
a payload in extreme cases during the
first hours of flight just put one up a
thousand that was not get an idea what
the wind speed is what kinda direction
they're looking at the Columbia
scientific balloon facility crew uses
small tethered pilot balloons to gauge
local winds surface winds for a launch
cannot exceed six to seven miles per
hour in the first 200 vertical feet
from 200 to 1000 feet the height of a
balloon when released wins must be less
than 12 miles now
it's about it's about 14 knots
yep and from top to bottom wins must be
in a constant direction and he shifted
variation or speed during inflation can
shred a balloon a dangerous order for
crew and scientists depending on where
you are in the world coming up with that
combination of weather can be very
difficult sometimes there can be delays
and launches of week or ten days or
perhaps as long as two weeks
so that each direction is probably our
best bet ya 60-degree 70 at the top of
the balloons 270 degrees this is for
what oh that 18 zaap and despite an
optimistic weather forecast this launch
day initially looked like a no-go
well we're just waiting now for this
cloud mass to go away and when it goes
away from us enough it should be we
should be able to establish a solid
direction that we got good low level
wind conditions 34 not great so now if
we can just get some of this precip to
be out we can love them i do it with the
Columbia scientific balloon facility
crew on standby CS BF meteorologists
closely monitor weather conditions to
identify a favorable and time-specific
launch window
alright guys already
part
that zone is really just all instinct
after that once the balloon comes out of
the school you're just operating on
instinct at least I am
going to write this little bit
and you're watching the flight train as
it comes up over the launch vehicle
you're maneuvering the vehicle talking
to the driver was telling them which way
to go
15-20 seconds or so that it takes to
launch one it seems like a short time
and it is a short time but in that 15-20
seconds your your your mind is it's got
a lot going through it right stop
good job
no I don't ever get tired of
participating or watching the launch it
is it is quite unique and it's an
experience that we just really really
cherish a lot
in roughly two hours flow time balloon
and payload will arrive at the edge of
space writing westerly upper atmospheric
winds this sub millimeter telescope
called last will gather precious data
for a full week before being returned to
Earth
the balloon and float can be seen
well inaccessible hundred miles we've
had reports from airline pilots that
they can see our balloon and we're
trying to report near-misses to the FAA
and the balloons a hundred twenty 545
miles away from the ground you can
probably see it will access the hundred
miles it look like the more campaign
director bill stepp oversees the
monitoring termination and post-flight
recovery of scientific payloads and
balloons we have a requirement to keep a
chase aircraft essentially within one
hour of flying time from the balloon at
any time
what we have well step in his team
monitor the westward tracking balloon in
real-time with sophisticated software
the safe just standoff distances are
five miles in radius around the
projected landing point of the payload
and we make sure that there are no
populated areas within that area so the
statistics is run that tells us what the
probabilities are of of actually
injuring someone on the ground and those
numbers the probabilities have to be
extremely low like on the order of one
in a million before were allowed to
bring one of these systems down at the
predetermined conclusion of the flight
the aircrew is called in for termination
label fly to the location of the balloon
in the end the payload is recovered and
returned to the science team to fly
another day
scientific ballooning the best-kept
secret in space science
we're not
into the air with beating the air to
death with propellers or or streaming
through the air with rocket engines or
jet engines
nothing could be more elegant or simple
it's a continuity I don't think lighter
than air travel will ever be obsolete
just because it is so perfectly elegant
in its application in this age of the
Space Shuttle the international space
station in rocketry scientific
ballooning is still relevant plays an
important role in science because it
provides for lifting very heavy payloads
to very high altitudes and for a
fraction of the cost of flying on the
space shuttle or the International Space
Station do world-class science
it's a quiet little engine that always
has and we've been going along providing
very economical platforms for scientists
since the late forties and I really
believe that it's the little little
engine that always will too
good job guy
I could do about the only person
it doesn't have TV coverage of the baby
and it man we got the black up now
you're gonna do is getting a TV picture
now epic fail yes we are getting a TV
picture religion now
12
family
ok