Super Pressure Balloon

Weather update: No super pressure balloon launch attempt for Friday, April 8, due to poor weather; officials will meet Friday afternoon to determine if Saturday's weather will support a launch attempt from Wanaka, New Zealand. (All dates are New Zealand). The primary mission of NASA's super pressure balloon (SPB) flight from Wanaka, New Zealand, is …

NASA's super pressure balloon team in Wanaka, New Zealand, continues to evaluate weather daily for conditions that could support a launch attempt of the pumpkin-shaped, football-stadium-sized balloon. At this time, the weather running through Thursday, April 7, will not support a launch attempt. Weekend weather is showing some potential, but the final call for any …

Weather. Most of us are content with tuning into the news, picking up a newspaper, opening up a smartphone app, or perhaps even relying on a trick knee to get a general sense of the day's weather outlook. Cloudy, sunny, rainy, windy, snowy. Pleasant, frigid, heat wave, cold snap. With the daily forecast in hand, …

Dr. Steven Boggs, professor and head of the Department of Physics, University of California, Berkeley, describes the objectives of the Compton Spectrometer and Imager (COSI), a gamma-ray telescope set for liftoff to the near space environment via a NASA super pressure balloon. The balloon launch is scheduled for no earlier than Monday, April 4, from Wanaka, …

Technicians with NASA's Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility (CSBF) reached a major milestone Wednesday, March 30, after successfully completing an instrument compatibility test in preparation for launching a super pressure balloon from Wanaka, New Zealand. The daylong test, also referred to as a hang test because it involves suspending the payload from the launch crane and …

NASA's Balloon Program Team runs through a few fun facts about its super pressure balloon, scheduled to launch from Wanaka, New Zealand, in the following video:

In preparation for its upcoming super pressure balloon launch, NASA's Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility kicked off a compatibility test Wednesday, March 30, at Wanaka Airport. The test, also referred to as a hang test because it involves suspending the payload from the launch crane and hooking the entire system up from top to bottom, is …

Tuesday's preparations for the upcoming super pressure balloon launch from Wanaka, New Zealand, kicked off with a weather forecast for Friday, April 1, the first potential launch opportunity for the team. At this time, the weather for Friday is less than ideal for launch, but the team continues to monitor conditions and will make a …

A little post-airshow excitement occurred at Wanaka Airport March 28 when a World War II era Harvard aircraft safely belly landed on the airport's runway around 9:30 a.m. March 28. After touching down, the aircraft's landing gear apparently collapsed, bringing the aircraft's belly down to the runway surface. No injuries were reported in the incident, …