Balloons to replace Microsats?

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mikejz

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From SpaceflightNow<br /><br />Flying near the edge of space, a NASA scientific balloon broke the flight record for duration and distance. It soared for nearly 42 days, making three orbits around the South Pole. <br /><br />The record-breaking balloon, almost as large as one and one half football fields, carried the Cosmic Ray Energetics And Mass (CREAM) experiment. CREAM is designed to explore the supernova acceleration limit of cosmic rays, the relativistic gas of protons, electrons and heavy nuclei arriving at Earth from outside the solar system. <br /><br />In addition to gathering scientific data, the flight was a demonstration of the capabilities of the NASA Ultra-Long Duration Balloon (ULDB) support system. The ULDB is being developed to extend flights up to 100 days. <br /><br />The pilot-less, helium-filled scientific balloon was launched from the National Science Foundation's McMurdo Station, Antarctica on Dec. 16, 2004. The balloon traveled 41 days and 22 hours. It landed on January 27, 660 kilometers (410 miles) from McMurdo Station. Payload recovery operations are in progress. <br /><br />The previous endurance record for a balloon flight was in December 2001 from McMurdo. The flight orbited the South Pole twice over 31 days, 20 hours. The CREAM mission extended the continuous science observation time over previous balloon missions. <br /><br />"We are excited with the duration of this flight, which allowed scientists to get ample data to perform their studies," said David Pierce, Chief of the Balloon Program Office at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center's Wallops Flight Facility, Wallops Island, Va. "We routinely have long duration balloons that float for up to two weeks, but to have one flight last more than 41 days is very rewarding," he added. <br /><br />Scientific balloons are made of thin polyethylene material, about the same thickness as ordinary sandwich wrap. An enormous balloon was needed to hoist the two-ton CREAM experiment to about 38,100 meters (125,000
 
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