Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility
Encyclopedia
1961, formerly known as the National Scientific Balloon Facility
(NSBF)) is a NASA
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
facility responsible for providing launch, tracking and control, airspace coordination, telemetry and command systems, and recovery services for unmanned, high altitude balloon
High altitude balloon
High-altitude balloons are unmanned balloons, usually filled with helium or hydrogen that are released into the stratosphere, generally reaching between ....
s. Customers of the CSBF include NASA centers, Universities, and scientific groups from all over the world.
Mission
CSBF has a threefold mission:- Provide maintenance, operations and logistics support for NASA's scientific balloon program and facilities.
- Provide sophisticated ground and flight systems for launch, control, data retrieval, commanding, and recovery of NASA's balloon missions.
- Perform research and development to advance the capabilities of NASA's suborbital programs.
History
The Balloon Facility was established in Boulder, Colorado in 1961 under the auspices of the National Science FoundationNational Science Foundation
The National Science Foundation is a United States government agency that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National Institutes of Health...
. It was moved to Palestine
Palestine, Texas
Palestine is a city in Anderson County, Texas, in the United States. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 17,598, and 18,458 in the 2009 estimate. It is the county seat of Anderson County and is situated in East Texas...
, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
in 1963 and designated as the National Scientific Balloon Facility (NSBF) in January 1973.
In 1982, sponsorship of the NSBF was transferred from the National Science Foundation to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the NSBF became a separate entity under the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR).
Since October 1987, the NSBF has been operated by the Physical Science Laboratory under the auspices of New Mexico State University
New Mexico State University
New Mexico State University at Las Cruces , is a major land-grant university in Las Cruces, New Mexico, United States...
located in Las Cruces, New Mexico. It is administered by Goddard Space Flight Center
Goddard Space Flight Center
The Goddard Space Flight Center is a major NASA space research laboratory established on May 1, 1959 as NASA's first space flight center. GSFC employs approximately 10,000 civil servants and contractors, and is located approximately northeast of Washington, D.C. in Greenbelt, Maryland, USA. GSFC,...
's Wallops Flight Facility
Wallops Flight Facility
Wallops Flight Facility , located on the Eastern Shore of Virginia, is operated by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, primarily as a rocket launch site to support science and exploration missions for NASA and other U.S. government agencies...
Balloon Program Office.
Its Texas location put the NSBF in the middle of the area where the debris from the Space Shuttle Columbia
Space Shuttle Columbia
Space Shuttle Columbia was the first spaceworthy Space Shuttle in NASA's orbital fleet. First launched on the STS-1 mission, the first of the Space Shuttle program, it completed 27 missions before being destroyed during re-entry on February 1, 2003 near the end of its 28th, STS-107. All seven crew...
dropped to Earth on February 1, 2003. In February 2006, the NSBF was renamed the Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility in honor of the Crew of STS-107
STS-107
-Mission parameters:*Mass:**Orbiter Liftoff: **Orbiter Landing: **Payload: *Perigee: *Apogee: *Inclination: 39.0°*Period: 90.1 min- Insignia :...
.
Balloon
CSBF conventional and long duration (LDB) balloons are made of 20 micrometer thick polyethylenePolyethylene
Polyethylene or polythene is the most widely used plastic, with an annual production of approximately 80 million metric tons...
film, and at float have a diameter of up to 140 meters (460 ft) and a volume of up to 1.12 million cubic meters (39.57 million cubic ft). The balloons are filled with helium gas, can carry payloads up to 3600 kilograms (7,936 lb), fly at altitudes of up to 42 kilometers (26 mi), and can remain at float in excess of 40 days.
The balloons are zero pressure difference balloons, and are vented at the bottom. They are only partially inflated when launched, and as they rise up, the lower atmospheric pressure causes them to fully inflate.
The bottom of the balloon is attached to a parachute
Parachute
A parachute is a device used to slow the motion of an object through an atmosphere by creating drag, or in the case of ram-air parachutes, aerodynamic lift. Parachutes are usually made out of light, strong cloth, originally silk, now most commonly nylon...
, which is then attached by steel suspension cables to the payload. A flight is terminated by firing an explosive squib which separates the parachute from the balloon. A rip line simultaneously tears open the top of the balloon. The balloon quickly deflates and falls to the ground, to be recovered and disposed of (balloons are single use). The payload descends, suspended by the parachute, and is recovered by the ground crew.
Conventional payloads typically have a float duration at altitude of 72+ hours. Long Duration Ballooning payloads float at durations of 42+ days. Ultra long duration balloons (ULDB) are being developed which can operate at float for +100 days. The limiting factor is the diurnal cycle of the sun, rising and setting. Heat during the day causes the balloon to expand and gain altitude, thereby losing helium . Heat loss at night causes the balloon to sink and contract. Ballast is carried to overcome the effect. Flying in a polar region during full sunlight allows more negligible altitude variations. ULDB balloons are sealed to prevent helium loss, but further engineering is required to create a balloon system that can survive the greater pressures involved.
Preparation, Launch, and Flight
A balloon flight involves both the CSBF and a scientific team(s). The CSBF determines the launch site based on scientific goals, and provides local preparation facilities, a balloon(s), launch and recovery vehicles, and personnel to support the logistical aspects of pre flight, flight, and post flight activities. Scientific teams ship a payload to the launch site, and set up a small field station to assemble their equipment, make last-minute preparations, and manage the experiment during flight. The payload is typically a large instrument or cluster of instruments, plus onboard computers, radio telemetry equipment, and ballast.Launching a balloon requires the conjunction of light low-level winds (to comply with the limitations of the CSBF dynamic launch technique) and suitable upper-level winds (so the balloon remains within telemetry range of a ground station, and within the permitted flight region). The payload may be rolled out to the launch area several times before surface and upper atmosphere conditions are acceptable for launch.
During the flight, data is transmitted to the ground for quick-look analysis, and is usually recorded on-board as well. Scientists on the ground usually actively control the payload. An astronomical telescope, for example, can be real time directed toward a variety of sources for observations, or left in an autonomous mode of operation.
Launch Sites
CSBF launches balloons from several sites in the world, depending on the needs of the experiment they carry. Sites include:- Palestine, TexasPalestine, TexasPalestine is a city in Anderson County, Texas, in the United States. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 17,598, and 18,458 in the 2009 estimate. It is the county seat of Anderson County and is situated in East Texas...
- Fort Sumner, New MexicoFort Sumner, New MexicoFort Sumner is a village in De Baca County, New Mexico, United States. The population was 1,249 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of De Baca County...
- McMurdo, AntarcticaMcMurdo StationMcMurdo Station is a U.S. Antarctic research center located on the southern tip of Ross Island, which is in the New Zealand-claimed Ross Dependency on the shore of McMurdo Sound in Antarctica. It is operated by the United States through the United States Antarctic Program, a branch of the National...
- AustraliaAustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
- Esrange, SwedenEsrangeEsrange Space Center is a rocket range and research centre located outside the town of Kiruna in northern Sweden. It is a base for scientific research with high altitude balloons, investigation of the aurora borealis, sounding rocket launches, and satellite tracking, among other things...
- Fairbanks, AlaskaFairbanks, AlaskaFairbanks is a home rule city in and the borough seat of the Fairbanks North Star Borough in the U.S. state of Alaska.Fairbanks is the largest city in the Interior region of Alaska, and second largest in the state behind Anchorage...
- Lynn Lake, ManitobaLynn Lake, ManitobaLynn Lake is a small town in the northwest region of Manitoba, Canada, 1,071 km from Winnipeg. The town was named after Lynn Smith, chief engineer of Sherritt Gordon Mines Ltd. There are numerous outfitters in the Lynn Lake area...