Sumner, NM, and remote sites in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Antarctica. Referred to as scientific balloons, they are very large. When fully inflated, they range up to 40 million cubic feet in volume and 600 feet in diameter and are taller than a 60-story building. The system includes a balloon, a parachute and a payloadthat carries instruments necessary to conduct a scientific experiment. Fully inflated scientific balloons, can carry a payload weighing as much as 8,000 pounds, which is about the weight of three small cars.
Balloons offer a low-cost, quick response method of doing scientific investigations.
They can be launched from where the scientist needs to conduct an experiment and can be ready for flight in as little as six months. Experiments flown on balloons provide information on the atmosphere, the universe, the Sun and the near-Earth space environment. The scientific balloon also is a valuable tool in developing future scientists. Undergraduate and graduate students can conduct and complete a scientific study in the same length of time it takes them to graduate, two to five years. The balloon flight mission is relatively simple.