Submitted by Anonymous on Wed, 12/23/2009 - 14:30
Forums
Dissolved Organic Matter in Antarctica

What are the balloons from the balloon launch made out of??

Sat, 12/26/2009 - 10:42

Sarah Diers

Awesome question and great timing as I was just online chatting with Debbie Fairbrother, one of my McMurdo roommates and the project manager for the NASA Long Duration Balloon project here in Antarctica, when I read your Ask the Team post. So, here is Debbie's answer to your question: "The balloon film is polyethylene. We have to make sure it isn't brittle down to -90*C." I asked Debbie how they test the polyethylene film to make sure it is not brittle, her reply was, "we have a "ball drop" test, where we drop a metal ball from about 14-18 inches above the film and look at how the film fails." They are checking to see if the film is brittle (not good) or ductile (or pliable- the quality they want in the balloon film.)"Keep cool! Sarah