NASA's upcoming mission will use a balloon larger than a football field to send
The main tool for collecting light from thistelescope - a huge mirror. It is considered the largest ever to be lifted in a high-altitude balloon. Construction of the 2.5-meter mirror was completed this month.
Photo: Media Lario
The creation of projects and their implementation turned out to becomplex because of two key requirements: the mirror and its supporting structure must be exceptionally light for balloon flight, but strong enough that the force of Earth's gravity will not deform its nearly perfect parabolic shape by more than 2.5 micrometers. This is a fraction of the width of a human hair.
The ASTHROS mission will be managed by the LaboratoryNASA Jet Propulsion Project in Southern California. The launch will take place no earlier than December 2023. The observatory will fly around the South Pole over four weeks. NASA's Science Balloon Program, operated by the Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, launches 10 to 15 balloon flights each year.
These missions usually cost less than space missions,and it takes less time to move from early planning to deployment. Scientists are also exploring new technologies that could be used in future space missions.
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