NASA’s giant balloon completes a round-the-world trip in 16 days and continues its scientific mission in Earth’s atmosphere

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NASA's giant balloon completes a round-the-world trip in 16 days and continues its scientific mission in Earth's atmosphereNASA’s giant balloon completes a round-the-world trip in 16 days and continues its scientific mission in Earth’s atmosphere (X @AstroDesires)

A super-pressure balloon from NASA, the size of a football stadium, completed its first round-the-world trip in just 16 days, after taking off from New Zealand on April 17th.

This achievement occurred on the morning of May 3rd and marks an important advancement in the agency’s balloon missions, which have been taking place since 2015 with the aim of collecting data at high altitudes.

During the flight, the NASA team identified a leak and performance issues related to maintaining altitude, especially during the nights in cold regions or with storms. Despite this, the scientific instruments onboard functioned properly, and the balloon met the mission’s requirements.

To stabilize the flight, extra weights were added to the gondola of the equipment. The balloon is still in operation and is expected to fly over South America in the coming days.

Designed to fly stably even with temperature variations between day and night, it carries the HIWIND, an instrument that measures winds in the thermosphere. These measurements are useful for understanding changes in the ionosphere and their impacts on communication and navigation systems.

Source: Olhar Digital | Photo: X @AstroDesires | This content was created with the help of AI and reviewed by the editorial team

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