A Series Of Eight High Altitude Science Balloons, Launching From NASA New Mexico -- This Week.

The eight launches will support 16 separate science missions, as detailed below, in the pull-quote. The eight "piggyback missions" will ride along on flights to support science and technology development.

So. . . Fall is. . . both back-to-school time, and. . . apparently. . . balloon time!

Three of these piggyback missions are technology demonstrations led by the balloon program team at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. Here's the latest, out of New Mexico's high desert:

. . .[The] campaign is the cornerstone of the NASA Balloon Program operations,” said Andrew Hamilton, acting chief of NASA’s Balloon Program Office. “Not only are we launching a large number of missions, but these flights set the foundation for follow-on missions from our long-duration launch facilities in Antarctica, New Zealand, and Sweden. The Fort Sumner campaign is also a strong focus for our student-based payloads and is an excellent training opportunity for our up-and-coming scientists and engineers. . . .”

Salter Test Flight: The test flight aims to verify system design and support several smaller payloads on the flight called piggyback missions.

HASP 1.0 (High-Altitude Student Platform): This platform supports up to 12 student payloads and assists in training the next generation of aerospace scientists and engineers. It is designed to flight test compact satellites, prototypes, and other small payloads.

HASP 2.0 (High-Altitude Student Platform 2): This engineering test flight of the upgraded gondola and systems for the HASP program aims to double the carrying capability of student payloads.

DR-TES (mini-Dilution Refrigerator and a Transition Edge Sensor): This flight will test a cooling system and a gamma-ray detector in a near-space environment.

TIM Test Flight (Terahertz Intensity Mapper): This experiment will study galaxy evolution and the history of cosmic star formation.

THAI-SPICE (Testbed for High-Acuity Imaging Stable Photometry and Image-motion Compensation Experiment): The goal of this project is to build and demonstrate a fine-pointing system for stratospheric payloads with balloon-borne telescopes.

TinMan (Thermalized Neutron Measurement Experiment): This hand-launch mission features a 60-pound payload designed to help better understand how thermal neutrons may affect aircraft electronics. . . .

Now you know -- and onward, to eye-ball, and marvel at -- Banksy's latest London foray. Be excellent to one another. Smile.

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