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T H E B I G S PA C E
B A L LO O N
? ? SPACE BALLOON? ???????????????????????????????????
long the balloon stays afloat will determine where the balloon lands, hopefully it’ll be over land!.
But it could in theory circumnavigate the globe which would be rather cool.
The recent BRRISON project was a NASA mission that sent a balloon carrying a telescope and instruments high above Earth to study Comet ISON.
The Balloon Rapid Response for ISON (BRRISON) – carried a 0.8 m telescope and optical and infrared
sensors to study the comet from above nearly all of Earth’s atmosphere.
Launch Sites
We are currently looking into various launch sites, the best at the moment would be to use the Esrange
space centre, in Kiruna, Sweden, as they are equipped for large stratospheric balloon launches and are relatively close compared to established launch sites in the US and Antarctica, although it would be nice to
launch from the UK if possible, but it can get very busy above us and there’s a higher risk of the balloon
drifting and descending over populated areas.
ICY SCIENCE | WINTER 2013- 2014