Launched!!

 12-22-2022

 Yay, we did it! We launched the Long Duration Balloon this morning. Sadly, I was in the gerbil gym on the treadmill when it launched but I was able to see it as soon as I stepped outside. It was climbing out of 30,000 feet when I saw it and still clearly visible. We were able to see it on our radar until it cleared 60,000 feet. I saw a picture of it just before it took off and it looked like an old fashioned incandescent light bulb. I will remain in a circular orbit over Antarctica at 120,000 feet. The project objective is to identify the signature or primordial gravitational waves in the polarization of the cosmic microwave background (CMB). In other, more understandable, words, they hope to take “baby pictures” of a young universe forming just after the big bang. Eventually the balloon will land.  After it lands an exhaustive effort to recover it will be undertaken. It’s really pretty cool science in action!

 One other quick aside, I went outside today in just blue jeans and a short sleeve shirt. The actual temperature was 28F, but it felt more like 50. I didn’t take a picture because I thought that would be rubbing it in considering the cold wave that is sweeping over the U.S. right now. I guess I really am a snowbird.

Link to read about the balloon launch of SPIDER

https://interestingengineering.com/innovation/spider-balloon-borne-experiment-antarctica



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