Do you remember what the French Team (The Concordiasi group) is doing with their gigantic balloons down here in Antarctica?
If not, review http://www.polartrec.com/expeditions/antarctic-seafloor-ecology/journals/october-22-2010-flying-over-antarctica-balloons.
Last Thursday, the French team invited me to join them in launching their last super pressure balloon which carried with it our special WATER DROP from the computer class at the Santa Cruz Adult School.
Walking down to the sea ice, I saw their two hangars and the big goldfish indicating wind direction and speed.
How windy is it? Where is the wind coming from?
Unfortunately the wind was a bit strong , so we had to wait a while for the wind to die down to less than 5 MPH. In the meantime, various members of the team showed me around. The balloon lay in one of the heated hangars on a really long launching table. Made of a really thin plastic type of material, the balloon was folded up on the sides but lay a good 240 feet long. A thin covering protected it from curious hands or other dangers.
The balloon on its launching table.
We take a peek at the balloon.
The other hangar held the gondolas with the science experiments ready to be launched.
Instruments on the balloons are solar powered. What do you think they will measure?
This balloon had three different missions. One mission is to help calibrate a polar satellite which flies over the earth longitudinally, from the North Pole to the South Pole and back and measures the weather.
A second mission is to release 50 dropsondes, instruments which will measure the wind, pressure, temperature, and moisture of the air column as it falls back to earth. All of this information will be sent to weather databases so they can compare their predictions and calculations to actual values and then improve their forecasting abilities.
The last mission involves investigating stratospheric ozone and characterizing the polar vortex. Do you remember what the polar vortex is?
By putting balloons in the polar vortex, scientists can see what happens to the winds high up above the earth in the stratosphere. They can only do this for a short time though, as the polar vortex dissolves around the end of November or beginning of December. When it evaporates, the balloons suddenly find themselves in warmer air, which quickly causes them to explode. Who do you think could hear the awesome bang of these balloons which will have expand to an 36-foot diameter?
Once the wind had calmed down to about 4 MPH, the team prepared for the launch. First they wheeled out the table with the balloon to a spot 200 feet from the hangars. The helium was rolled out and connected and then began the long process of filling the balloon with helium.
How many people does it take to fill up a super pressure Balloon? Can you see the Helium start to inflate the balloon?
It took a good 45 minute to inflate the balloon with 16 kilograms of Helium. Two big rolling pins held the balloon tied to the table and were pushed down the length of the balloon as it was filled. At the end, the balloon was still only partially inflated. Why would they not want to inflate it to its full capacity?
What happens to air and to balloons many, many miles above earth?
As you go up, away from earth, gravity becomes weaker which causes air pressure to decrease. With decreasing air pressure, the molecules inside the balloon need more room to move around. If the balloons were already filled to their capacity they would quickly pop. However, as the balloons are only partially filled, they can travel far up in the air, expanding safely to a diameter of about 36 feet without popping.
Connecting the experiments to the balloon.
Our balloon was now ready for launching and so the gondolas with their science equipment were securely attached.
I checked and make sure our WATER DROP from the Computer class at the Santa Cruz Adult School was properly fastened. It was attached to the radar detector which makes sure planes do not run over our balloon.
Once ready, Alain, the lead launcher and “pirate” of the group, carefully checked the conditions and orchestrated the movements of his team.
How do you properly launch such a gigantic balloon? Alain knows. He's launched over 1500 balloons.
Everyone had to work together to send this balloon on its way and this final task was the most difficult.
The group readjusts the balloon as the wind shifted a little bit.
With a countdown the balloon quickly lifted off. Pieces of blue protective covering fell off as the balloon rose to the sky.
It's off! There goes the balloon! What will it see on its journey? What will the scientists learn from its instruments?
Then something went wrong. The wind shifted and the group had to run and shift direction, still holding their precious gondolas, so as to ensure a smooth takeoff. Somehow communication was not super clear, and a helper ran the wrong way, becoming ensnared in the lines. Tangled up, the helper was knocked over and part of one of the experiments came tumbling down. Aghghghgh.
The balloon on a mission, continued its path toward the sky. Luckily the group had a “detach button” and by pressing it, were able to release the remaining experiments which, attached to parachutes, simply floated back to earth. Later that evening, the team, which had been so excited about their last drop, sadly retrieved their experiments.
Five days later, with a new balloon, fixed gondolas, packaged instruments, and clearer communication, the group tried again. This time they were successful and the balloon, its science experiments, as well as our WATER DROP flew up and away!
Check out where they are by looking at flight MSD08 on http://www.lmd.polytechnique.fr/VORCORE/cciasi_balloon.php
Look at where it's been so far! What has our WATER DROP seen on its adventures so far?