NASA to Launch Balloon Into the Stratosphere to Study the Cosmos

Video Credit: TomoNews US
Published on July 30, 2020 - Duration: 01:47s

NASA to Launch Balloon Into the Stratosphere to Study the Cosmos

PASADENA, CALIFORNIA — NASA has begun work on an ambitious new project that will carry a cutting-edge telescope high into the stratosphere on a balloon, the space agency said in a press release on July 23.

A gondola beneath the balloon will carry an instrument to measure the motion and speed of gas around newly formed stars, and a lightweight telescope optimized to capture far-infrared light.

The mission is called ASTHROS, which is short for Astrophysics Stratospheric Telescope for High Spectral Resolution Observations at Submillimeter-wavelengths.

It is tentatively planned to launch in December 2023 from Antarctica.

When fully inflated with helium, the balloon will be about 150 meters wide, roughly the size of a football stadium.

In order to observe far-infrared light, which is blocked by Earth's atmosphere, ASTHROS will will need to reach an altitude of about 40 kilometers — roughly four times higher than commercial airliners fly.

Managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the mission will observe four main targets: two star-forming regions in the Milky Way; the galaxy Messier 83; and TW Hydrae, a young star surrounded by a wide disk of dust and gas where planets may be forming.


You are here

Related videos from verified sources

NASA to Study Stars With Telescope Suspended From Gigantic Balloon 01:12
Video credit: AmazeLab - Published on July 24, 2020 

You might like