LDB projects

So, one of the science projects of fairly great importance down here is the Long Duration Balloon project. These guys have the worst schedule of any scientist down here, I think. They have to wait till December for the perfect window of weather. Basically, there can be very little upper level winds, and very little ground wind, and few clouds, the list goes on. Essentially, weather conditions that rarely exist here, and could occur at any time of the night or day, so they have to be ready 24/7 during their 'window.'

They had 3 payloads to launch this year, CREAM, BESS, and ATIC. These payloads are huge, and the power cells (typically solar panels) can cost upwards of $10,000 each. They can easily weigh 5000 pounds as well. They are carried through the upper atmosphere by balloons that are easily 250 feet tall, if not taller, and expand to HUGE proportions. It was particularly neat for me, because one of the payloads is from Goddard Space Flight Center, which is in Greenbelt, MD, and home to one of NASA's many programs.

While I missed out on every launch (the first one I could see from Pegasus, but I wasn't up close, and the other 2 were launched at 4am and 3am, respectively), I snagged some pictures from the general drive, where everyone puts up their pictures.

Here's some of them. You can see how large this thing is, by comparing it to the big forklifts on the ground. Compare the payload size to the scientist on the ATV.

The entire production of the launch.

The payload (I'm not sure which launch this was). Check out how many solar panels there are, and remember each panel cost upwards of $10,000.
Here's the balloon lifting off.

These balloons are filled less than a quarter of their full capacity on the ground, so that they can follow the laws of physics and expand in the atmosphere where the pressure is lessened. They expand big enough that at 130,000 feet up, they can still be seen from the ground.

The other neat part is that the payloads are outfitted with GPS devices (so they can be recovered when the balloon goes down). This also allows the teams to track the progress of the balloons around the continent. The websites also give information as to speed, time, and position. It also tells you what the payload is carrying. I was talking to one of the scientists who worked on CREAM. They are studying background cosmic radiation, trying to figure out where in the universe it's coming from.

Here's the CREAM website. http://www.nsbf.nasa.gov/map/cream.htm As you can see, CREAM is already on it's second tour of the continent.

The BESS website. http://www.nsbf.nasa.gov/map/balloon1/balloon1.htm

And the ATIC site. http://www.nsbf.nasa.gov/map/balloon7/balloon7.htm

From what I understand, the balloons are carrying by some sort of cyclonic wind stream, that only occurs around December. The balloons will stay up as long as the winds keep going. I don't understand all of it, but last year, one of the balloons went around the continent 3 times before going down.

On another note, the icebreaker Odin has arrived at the ice edge. Last night (according to Lizzie who has a friend who is directly in touch with the crew), they were making 4 knots, and the ice was only 6 feet thick. They expect to break through to town tomorrow. Supposedly the Odin is a special kind of ice breaker, from Sweden or Norway (I can't remember which), that is built much differently than the Coast Guard ice breakers we used to have come down. The Coastie ice breakers are have a sharp, reinforced bow, and powerful thruster that ride up on the ice, and then the weight of the ship breaks the ice. From what I understand, this is how ice breakers are normally built and operated.

The Odin on the other hand, (from what I'm told) has a fairly blunt bow (still reinforced), and has some sort of jets in the bow that shoot out water. The water lubricates the ice as the ship rides up, so it can get up farther. The blunt, wide bow pushes more of the ice chunks out of the way so it breaks a wider channel.

After the Odin breaks up some of the ice around town (not too much, since we're right on the edge of the permanent ice shelf), the research vessel Nathanial B Palmer will come in. I'm not quite sure what they will do, but we might be able to get moral trips out on her. During the summer down here, they travel around the continent doing studies on marine life and oceanography.

The open water also means that the end is near. We start redeployment meetings next week, and should know our flight dates by January 19th. I'm both relieved and saddened.