With tires almost as tall as me, this beast of a bus shuttles the people of McMurdo to and fro.
Today, I took a field trip with my McMurdo roommate, Debbie, out to her research site on the Ross Ice Shelf. Debbie works for the NASA Balloon Program and is in Antarctica to manage a project that launched a large, unmanned balloon into the upper limits of Earth's atmosphere. Other teams, like Debbie's are launching other balloons and instruments from the same site this season. Once in the air, the balloons orbit the Earth collecting data through the scientific equipment that is contained in payloads hanging below them. Scientists at NASA and Universities around the U.S. use the data to learn more about outer space and near space.
I was very fortunate in that a balloon launch was scheduled to occur today! It is difficult to determine balloon launching dates and times because the material that the balloons are made of is extremely fragile, and the payloads the balloons carry very heavy, the combination of both means that on windy, snowy, or even cloudy days the balloons cannot launch. We had clear skies, calm winds, and perfect weather for a launch! Additionally, Mt. Erebus and Mt. Terror, two active volcanoes on Ross Island, chose today to send up beautiful plumes of smoke.
Debbie and I at LDB with Mt. Erebus in the background.
Debbie launched her balloon earlier this season, but remained in Antarctica to observe the launches of other teams, like the one we watched today! Before the launch, we had time to tour the LDB (Long Duration Balloon) facilities. The buildings at the balloon site are designed to move at the end of the season. If they remain in the same place, they become increasingly buried under snow and ice as the years go by, so they are all built on top of large skis and are moved to a berm so that the snow and ice will not cover them up.
These are not your average skis!
Also, we ate lunch at the LDB Galley- YUMMY! The chef at the LDB galley is amazing! Check out the menu for today. I could keep on going out just for the delicious grub.
LDB decked out with holiday cheer.
Chef Craig and his galley crew are amazing cooks! Thanks for letting me join you for a meal.
It took about one hour to set up all the part of the balloon before inflation and launch. The crew laid a ground cloth down on the snow and gently uncoiled the balloon over the ground cloth. At this point, the balloon itself is still precisely folded up inside a plastic tube. A parachute with a separation device is attached to the base of the balloon. The payload of scientific instruments attaches to the parachute by means of a cable ladder. At the end of the balloon's flight, in approximately 5 days, NASA will send a command to the separation device on the parachute to release the parachute and payload from the balloon. The balloon will fall back to Earth separately from the payload and parachute.
Groundcloth and a covering over the balloon ensure a successful launch.
Attaching the parachute to the balloon.
Once the team started pumping a calculated amount of helium into the balloon, it only took ten minutes before the balloon was up and on its way to the stratosphere! In this video, I sped up the footage by 600% so you could watch the inflation and launch in the time it takes to sing "Happy Birthday" to both Heidi and Chip
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Happy Birthday Heidi!
Happy Birthday Chip!