NASA announced that it will send a balloon the size of a football field to the stratosphere. This globe will serve to study the space around our planet.
It will carry a 2.6-meter long telescope, called ASTHROS, with which they will study certain wavelengths of light.
The ASTHROS telescope is administered by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. It is capable of observing wavelengths of light from the stratosphere that are not visible from Earth’s surface.
Far-infrared light, for example, will be observable with the telescope, only if it reaches four times higher than the average location of an airplane.
With the balloon, the telescope can float 103 kilometers from the planet’s surface, beyond its atmosphere.
NASA’s use of a balloon is nothing new
Slash Gear explains that NASA’s Science Globe Program has reached three decades. Why do they use balloons? They are much cheaper than the usual machine space missions, plus it doesn’t take as long to plan and launch the mission.
The downside, according to Slash Gear, is that using a balloon is much riskier, compared to common space missions.
Balloons are quite vulnerable, for example, to lost debris that can collide with them. They measure about 122 meters and use a gondola to transport the components of the telescope.
It will be blown away by winds in the stratosphere and will take about a month to loop around the South Pole.
When would the launch take place?
The launch of the balloon would be made from Antarctica in December 2023. However, the date may move, depending on preparations.
“With ASTHROS the goal is to make astrophysical observations that have never been done before.” The statement was made by engineer José Siles, in the NASA statement.
“The mission will pave the way for future space missions by testing new technologies and providing training for new generations.”