The football-stadium-sized, heavy-lift super-pressure balloon is on a 100-day mission floating in the southern hemisphere’s mid-latitudes to further test the United States space agency’s super-pressure balloon technology.
"The picture-perfect launch and ascent into float of our second super-pressure balloon caps off a highly successful New Zealand campaign," Nasa Balloon Programme Office chief Gabriel Garde said.
The helium-filled, 532,356 million-cubic-metre balloon ascended at a rate of about 304m (1000 feet) per minute, fully inflating along the way, until it reached its operational float altitude of 33km (110,000 feet) above Earth’s surface about two hours after launch.
The balloon will spend most of its time over water, but some land crossings will occur. If weather permits, the balloon may be visible from the ground, particularly at sunrise and sunset.
The first super-pressure balloon of the New Zealand campaign was successfully launched on April 17 after several weather-related postponements.
"To have both missions aloft and nearby one another is phenomenal for such a complex mission operation ... We could not be more pleased."
While the balloon flight’s primary mission is to test and qualify the super-pressure balloon technology, it is also carrying several smaller science investigations and technology demonstrations.
— APL
