NASA to launch 8 scientific balloons from New Mexico

NASA’s scientific balloon program kicked off its annual fall balloon launch campaign at the agency’s Fort Sumner Launch Center in New Mexico. Eight balloon flights carrying science experiments and technology demonstrations are scheduled between mid-August and mid-October.

The flights will support 16 missions, including research in astrophysics, heliophysics and atmospheric research.

“The annual Fort Sumner campaign is the cornerstone of NASA’s balloon program operations,” said Andrew Hamilton, acting chief of NASA’s Balloon Program Office. “Not only do we launch a large number of missions, but these flights lay the foundation for subsequent missions from our long-duration launch facilities in Antarctica, New Zealand and Sweden. The Fort Sumner campaign is also an important target for our student-based payloads and provides an excellent training opportunity for our budding scientists and engineers.”

The return of the fall range is ensured by the EXCITE (Exoplanet Climate Infrared Telescope mission led by Peter Nagler, principal investigator at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. EXCITE is an astronomical telescope developed to study the atmospheric properties of Jupiter-like exoplanets from near space. EXCITE’s launch was delayed during the 2023 campaign due to weather conditions.

“The entire EXCITE team is looking forward to our upcoming field campaign and launch opportunity from Fort Sumner,” said Nagler. “We are bringing a more capable instrument than last year and are excited to test EXCITE from North America before taking it to Antarctica for our future long-duration science flight.”

Some additional missions planned for launch include:

Salter’s test flight:The test flight aims to verify the system design and support several smaller payloads during flight, called piggyback missions.
HASP 1.0 (High Altitude Student Platform):This platform can accommodate up to 12 student payloads and helps train the next generation of aerospace scientists and engineers. It is designed to flight test compact satellites, prototypes and other small payloads.
HASP 2.0 (High Altitude Student Platform 2): This engineering test flight of the HASP program’s modernized nacelle and systems aims to double the student payload carrying capacity.
DR-TES (mini-dilution fridge and transition edge sensor):This flight will test a cooling system and a gamma-ray detector in a near-space environment.
TIM (Terahertz Intensity Mapper) test flight: This experiment will study the evolution of galaxies and the history of cosmic star formation.
THAI-SPICE (High Acuity Imaging Test Bench)– Experiment of stable photometry and image motion compensation:The objective of this project is to build and demonstrate a precise pointing system for stratospheric payloads with balloon-borne telescopes.
TinMan (Thermalized Neutron Measurement Experiment):This hand-launched mission includes a 60-pound payload designed to help better understand how thermal neutrons can affect aircraft electronics.

Eight additional piggyback missions will also be deployed to support science and technology development. Three of these piggyback missions are technology demonstrations conducted by the balloon program team at NASA’s Wallops Flight Center in Virginia. Their common goal is to enhance NASA’s balloon mission capabilities. CASBa (Complete avionics system for balloons) aims to improve flight control systems for NASA balloon missions. DINGO (Dynamic instrumentation for gondola) And SPARROW-5 (Sensor Package for Observable Attitude, Rotation and Relative Winds – Five) are technology maturation projects designed to provide new sensing capabilities to NASA balloon missions.

The zero-pressure balloons used in this campaign are in thermal equilibrium with their surroundings during flight. They maintain a zero pressure differential through vents that allow gas to escape to prevent pressure build-up inside the balloons as they rise above the 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. The loss of lift gas during the day-night cycle affects the balloon’s altitude after repeated day-night cycles; however, this can be overcome by launching from polar regions, such as Sweden or Antarctica, where the sun does not set on the balloon in summer.

To follow Fort Sumner’s fall 2024 campaign missions, visit NASA’s Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility website for real-time updates on balloon altitudes and locations during flight.

NASA’s Wallops Flight Center in Virginia manages the agency’s scientific balloon program, with 10 to 15 flights per year from launch sites around the world. Peraton, which operates NASA’s Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility (CSBF) in Palestine, Texas, provides mission planning, engineering, and field operations services for NASA’s scientific balloon program. The CSBF team has launched more than 1,700 scientific balloons in its nearly 40 years of operation. NASA’s balloons are manufactured by Aerostar. NASA’s scientific balloon program is funded by the Astrophysics Division of the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington.

For more information about NASA’s scientific balloon program, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/scientificballoons

By Olivia Littleton
NASA Wallops Flight Facility, Wallops Island, Virginia.