NASA's Ultra High Altitude "Zero Pressure" Balloon Flights -- Have Concluded, At McMurdo Station -- On The Ross Ice Shelf, Antarctica...

This was some very cool (literally), cutting edge balloon tech.

And it worked. . . flawlessly. Here's the story -- and you'll recall that we covered the lead-up (and launches), last month:

. . .NASA’s Scientific Balloon Program has completed four successful Antarctica flights during a long-duration campaign that began in early December. The balloons launched from the agency’s facility located near the U.S. National Science Foundation’s McMurdo Station on the Ross Ice Shelf.

The General AntiParticle Spectrometer (GAPS) balloon lifted off Dec. 15. The GAPS payload is an experiment designed to detect anti-matter particles entering Earth’s atmosphere to help reveal the origin of dark matter — an invisible form of matter that’s estimated to make up more than 80% of the total matter in the universe. The GAPS mission flew for a total of 25 days, 2 hours, and 53 minutes before returning to the ice Jan. 9.

The Payload for Ultrahigh Energy Observations (PUEO) launched Dec. 19 and flew a total of 23 days, 8 hours, and 52 minutes, returning to the ice Jan. 12. The PUEO payload is designed to detect signals from neutrinos, high-energy particles that travel across the universe undisturbed, carrying information about events billions of light-years away. This was the first mission to launch through NASA’s Astrophysics Pioneers program, which supports compelling astrophysics science at lower cost. . . .

Onward, grinning -- with lil' ladies here shortly, then dinner out and a new experimental/journalistic "living documentary" theatre production tonight, based on the various experiences of people without papers here in the City of Big Shoulders -- called "Sanctuary Stories". Will report manana.

नमस्ते