NASA's super pressure balloon takes off from Wanaka on its eighth attempt

The super-pressure balloon test flight is now on a mission designed to run 100 or more days, NASA said in a statement.

Wellington, April 25: After several unsuccessful attempts, NASA finally launched its football-stadium-sized, heavy-lift super pressure balloon SPB from Wanaka, New Zealand, on Tuesday.

"Following our 2015 and 2016 New Zealand missions, we've learned key lessons on the balloon design that have gone into perfecting the technology for this year's flight," said Debbie Fairbrother, NASA's Balloon Programme Office chief.

"I'm very proud of the team that delivered us to this point and I'm hopeful that third time's the charm for realising 100 days of flight," Fairbrother added.

As the balloon travels around the Earth, it may be visible from the ground, particularly at sunrise and sunset, to those who live in the southern hemisphere's mid-latitudes, such as Argentina and South Africa.

The purpose of the flight is to test and validate the super pressure balloon technology with the goal of long-duration flight at mid-latitudes.

In addition, the University of Chicago's Extreme Universe Space Observatory on a Super Pressure Balloon EUSO-SPB is a mission of opportunity flying on the 2017 SPB test flight.

The EUSO-SPB is designed to detect high-energy cosmic rays originating from outside our galaxy as they penetrate the Earth's atmosphere.

As these high-energy particles enter the atmosphere, they interact with nitrogen molecules in the air and create a UV fluorescence light.

From its high-altitude vantage point, EUSO-SPB will look downward observing a broad swathe of the Earth's atmosphere to detect the UV fluorescence from these deep space cosmic rays coming in from above.

"EUSO-SPB is now searching for the most energetic cosmic particles ever observed," said Angela

IANS