As part of its Science Balloon Program, NASA will launch some 10 to 15 balloon missions into Earth’s atmosphere each year. The closest one is remarkable because it will be a stratospheric balloon the size of a football field, and the telescope it will carry has giant mirrors plated with nickel and gold , according to the US space agency in a press release.
These ‘small’ stratospheric balloons are used to test new technologies, as well as to conduct research on the Earth’s atmosphere, study the Sun or even the universe in general. A balloon-based mission may seem small and humble, perhaps even unambitious, but they generally cost less (of course cheaper) and allow for much quicker progress from planning to deployment. They can also fly with surprising frequency, as NASA’s Science Balloon Program flies up to 15 missions per year.
2023
When NASA’s high-altitude balloon lifts off from Antarctica in December 2023 at the start of its up to four-week journey over the South Pole, it will carry the Astrophysical Stratospheric Telescope for High Spectral Resolution Observations at Submillimeter Wavelengths (ASTHROS). equipped with a telescope with one of the largest mirrors ever flown in a high-tech gas bag – 2.5 meters wide. ASTHROS primary mirror made from aluminum panels in a honeycomb structure with gold plated nickel surfaces.
The coating allows the mirror to reflect dim light in far-infrared wavelengths, allowing it to observe star-forming regions of our galaxy and create high-resolution 3D maps of gas distribution and motions, and compare them to distant galaxies to gain a better understanding of how stars form and die.
Unlike space telescope missions, where mirror alignments can be controlled remotely, ASTHROS’s mirror must remain locked in mission position from the moment the balloon lifts off, and carbon fiber is used. to make it.
“I think this is probably the most complex telescope ever built for a high-altitude balloon mission,” José Siles, ASTHROS project manager, said in a press release. “We had similar specifications to a space telescope, but on a tighter budget, schedule and mass . We had to combine techniques from ground-based telescopes that observe at similar wavelengths with advanced manufacturing techniques used for professional racing sailboats.”
Reference. POT
