Balloon Tracker
brought to you by Science@NASA  
a NASA/Marshall Science and Technology Directorate Product.

.

Next Balloon Launch:
for the Leonids

Use the applet above to view the telemetry from the November 18, 1999 balloon flight.

Tracker Help

3D Location Help

The "3D Display" shows the balloon's approximate location.  You can click and drag to rotate the 3D display.  Shift + Click zooms in and Ctrl + Click zooms out.

Altitude Graph Help

The " Altitude Graph" includes more data than what is plotted which is Altitude vs. Time.  You can move your mouse around the data points to see Altitude, Temperature, Atmospheric Pressure and Rate of Climb.  The Units are the same as the main display.

Leonids Balloon Flight

balloon inflation 2 a.m. CST 17 NovThe JAVA applet at left shows the flight path of the most recent weather balloon launched from NASA / Marshall Space Flight Center's Science Directorate.

The balloon with payload was launched around 12:30 AM CDT on November 18, 1999.  

This was NASA's fourth mission to try to capture materials of cosmic origin before they are incinerated by entry into Earth's atmosphere or contact with the ground if they survive entry.

The first three flights were in November 1998 during the Leonids meteor shower, April 1999 during a meteor minimum, and August 1999 -- all to provide a proper comparison.  NASA will continue experimenting with several types of capture media to see how they fare at high altitude, and with new equipment for tracking and imagery.

For more information about this balloon flight, visit Science @ NASA.

Science@NASA Home | NASA Kids | Write Us