The Super-TIGER getting ready to be launched from a balloon site near McMurdo Station, Antarctica. Pic: NASAWASHINGTON: After more than 55 days flying over Antarctica, NASA's huge Super-TIGER scientific balloon has broken the record for the longest flight of its kind, bringing back a wealth of data, the US space agency said Monday. <\/p>\n
The Super-TIGER balloon spent 55 days, one hour and 34 minutes aloft at an altitude of 127,000 feet (38,710 metres), beating the old record set in 2009 by just over a day. <\/p>\n
It was gathering data on the high energy cosmic rays that hit the Earth from elsewhere in the galaxy. That process included the use of a new tool to measure rare elements heavier than iron among the influx of rays. <\/p>\n
Scientists are looking to better understand where these high energy atoms come from and how they get so super-charged. <\/p>\n
\"This has been a very successful flight because of the long duration, which allowed us to detect large numbers of cosmic rays,\" said principal investigator Bob Binns. <\/p>\n
NASA said the data will take up to two years to fully analyse. <\/p>\n
The balloon's long flight was aided by the South Pole's wind patterns, which circulate counter-clockwise, from east to west, in the stratosphere thousands of feet above the Earth's surface. <\/p>\n
That -- plus the sparse population in the southernmost, frigid continent -- make these long-duration, high-altitude flights possible, NASA said. <\/p>\n
\"Scientific balloons give scientists the ability to gather critical science data for a long duration at a very low relative cost,\" said Vernon Jones, NASA's Balloon Programme Scientist. <\/p>\n
-AFP <\/p>\n
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NASA Science Balloon Breaks Longest Flight Record<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Super-TIGER getting ready to be launched from a balloon site near McMurdo Station, Antarctica. Pic: NASAWASHINGTON: After more than 55 days flying over Antarctica, NASA's huge Super-TIGER scientific balloon has broken the record for the longest flight of its kind, bringing back a wealth of data, the US space agency said Monday Continue reading