RELEASE NO: 98-183

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (Greenbelt, Md.) will be hosting the Second Ultra Long Duration Ballooning Technology Workshop on Thursday, Nov. 12. The goal of the workshop is to encourage potential innovators with new ideas to propose balloon technology that will greatly enhance science opportunities in space.

Ultra Long Duration Balloons (ULDB) are designed to stay afloat for several months with over a ton of astronomy and weather equipment 15 miles higher than typical passenger planes fly. The new technology presents significant opportunities, as an Ultra Long Duration Balloon can be used to perform many types of research effectively and inexpensively.

"For missions not requiring an orbital or deep space placement, you can create larger, more sophisticated payloads and take more risks. This is because if an instrument fails, you can recover your load and simply relaunch it," said Dr. Jack Tueller, the balloon project scientist at NASA's Laboratory for High Energy Astrophysics. "A balloon launch is also very flexible. If you miss the launch date, it's easy enough to reschedule it. Furthermore, the least expensive of NASA's launchers is still 10 times more expensive than a balloon launch," said Tueller.

Tueller also suggested the possibility of commercial ventures such as remote communication platforms. One balloon could supply cell phone connection to an entire metropolitan area, instead of using hundreds of towers throughout a city. Balloon engineers, however, must first overcome the difficulty of keeping a balloon of such high altitude stationary over one geographical area, a process known as station keeping.

Tueller envisions a new paradigm of payload design, one in which scientists can put more of their energy and money into creating payloads that can be launched, tinkered with, and relaunched. Such a design eliminates the rigorous and expensive testing necessary for long-duration space missions. Also, the flexibility of a balloon launch -- involving, literally, only a handful of people and an airport runway -- frees the scientists from making time compromises.

Tueller said that ideal scientific loads for a balloon launch could be for high energy X-ray surveys and cosmic ray background analysis, whose equipment tends to be too heavy for small, inexpensive rockets.

The one-day workshop on has two objectives: to identify the types of technology needed to support ULDB science missions and to summarize funding opportunities in the NASA technology development programs. Speakers include Vernon Jones, Senior Science Program Executive at NASA Headquarters, and Peter Ulrich, Director, Advanced Technology and Mission Studies Division, Office of Space Science at NASA Headquarters.

Goddard is developing a technology roadmap for the ULDB program that summarizes available technology and outlines NASA technology development programs in progress. New technology requirements for ULDB include trajectory control, recovery and instrument pointing. This technology roadmap will be discussed at the workshop, along with crosscutting and related NASA technology development programs.

The workshop begins on Nov. 12, at 8:30 a.m. For questions on meeting content, contact Jack Tueller at "tueller@gsfc.nasa.gov". For general information, contact Westover Consultants at "wc@westover.com".

More details on the ULDB project can be found on the internet at: http://lheawww.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/balloon/balloon_top.html  

Editor’s Note: News media interested in covering this workshop, should contact Bill Steigerwald.