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08-01-09 New NASA Balloon Successfully Flight-Tested Over Antarctica

NASA and the National Science Foundation have successfully launched and demonstrated a newly designed super pressure balloon prototype that may enable a new era of high-altitude scientific research.The super-pressure balloon ultimately will carry large scientific experiments to the brink of space for 100 days or more.This seven-million-cubic-foot super-pressure balloon is the largest single-cell,super-pressure,fully-sealed balloon ever flown.When development ends,NASA will have a 22 million-cubic-foot balloon that can carry a one-ton instrument to an altitude of more than 110,000 feet,which is three to four times higher than passenger planes fly."This flight test is a very important step forward in building a new capability for scientific ballooning based on sound engineering and operational development,"said W.Vernon Jones,senior scientist for suborbital research at NASA Headquarters in Washington."The team has further work to do to enable the super pressure balloon to lift a one-ton instrument to a float altitude of 110,000 feet,but the team has demonstrated they are on the right path."Ultra-long duration missions using the super pressure balloon cost considerably less than a satellite and the scientific instruments flown can be retrieved and launched again,making them ideal very-high altitude research platforms