whoops
southeast new mexico beautiful rugged
terrain and open spaces dotted here and
there with towns like fort sumner
the kid was shot and buried here over a
century ago and folks joked that
nothing's happened since
but actually every spring and fall fort
sumner's small airport becomes a base
for scientific research
investigators from around the world
converge here bringing with them
instrument packages weighing thousands
of pounds
their goal is to fly these large
payloads 25 miles up near the edges of
space gathering data about things like
cosmic rays without the distorting
effects of the atmosphere
nasa launches the instruments but not
with rockets or planes even aircraft
like the er2 can't fly high or long
enough and it's not cost effective to
put such large payloads aboard a shuttle
the alternative large helium-filled
balloons made of a special polyethylene
that can withstand cold temperatures in
the upper atmosphere
fully inflated they can stand 900 feet
tall about the height of the eiffel
tower
once a balloon rises above an instrument
package it is released and the two begin
their journey to 130 000 feet
throughout a flight scientists and the
nasa operations team tracked the payload
continuously recording data it sends
back
because the instruments eventually
return to the ground recovery trucks are
deployed these crews often cover
hundreds of miles a day following a
balloon's path as closely as possible
towards the end of the flight a small
plane heads out and surveys potential
landing sites for the payload
new mexico offers plenty of unpopulated
areas for safe touchdowns
satisfied that no lives or property are
in danger the air crew transmits a
signal that destroys the balloon and the
instrument package parachutes to the
ground
successful landings don't always mean
easy recoveries
getting transport trucks into the
touchdown area is the first hurdle
hauling out a three-ton load without
damaging it is another
and three entangled parachutes can be a
real challenge
but the people in the program pride
themselves on good science at a
reasonable cost and getting payloads
back means they can fly again
nasa has been doing missions like this
since the early 1960s
although the balloons are larger and the
equipment to launch them more
sophisticated it remains a very reliable
way to do studies in the upper
atmosphere
it's also often the only way especially
for universities and graduate students
with limited budgets
nasa's balloon program over 25 years
gathering science
near the fringes of space
you