Balloons!!


 12-5-2022

 

There was a science presentation last night about, "Long Duration Balloons". They attach a package of instruments that generally weighs as much as a Volkswagen Bug to a balloon that’s six stories tall fill it with helium and away it goes. It ascends to a ridiculously high altitude and gets caught in the jet stream and circles the Antarctic continent gathering scientific information.


 It’s all over my head (no pun intended) but it’s great fun to watch them launch the thing. The date is always up in the air (again no pun) because the weather conditions need to be exactly right before they will launch. Eventually the whole kit and kaboodle returns to earth and then a team tries to locate it and return it to McMurdo. Whoever is working the tower on launch day gets the best seat in the house but that all turns out to be luck of the draw. I’ll send some pictures when they launch.

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