NASA is working on a new mission to send an 8.4-foot telescope aboard a balloon the size of a football stadium high into the stratosphere, the space agency said on Thursday. ASTHROS (short for Astrophysics Stratospheric Telescope for observations with high spectral resolution at submillimeter wavelengths) observes wavelengths of light that is not visible from the ground. The launch is scheduled for December 2023 in Antarctica, where it will hover over the continent on air currents.
ASTHROS observes far infrared light or light with wavelengths that are much longer than what is visible to humans. That means it has to reach a height of about 130,000 feet or 24.6 miles. That is still below the space boundary, but it will be high enough to see wavelengths of light blocked by Earth's atmosphere, NASA says.
An instrument on board measures the movement and speed of gas around newly formed stars. The mission will examine four main objectives, including two star-forming regions in the Milky Way. It will also map the presence of two types of nitrogen ions that can "uncover locations where massive star winds and supernova explosions have transformed the gas clouds in these star-forming regions," NASA said in a press release.
Through a process called star feedback, these violent events can scatter the surrounding material and hinder or block star formation. On the other hand, star feedback can also cause material to clump together, which speeds up star formation. The team hopes to learn more about how star feedback works and to offer new information that will improve computer simulations of galaxy evolution.
The team recently completed the design for the observatory's payload, including its telescope that captures the light and subsystems such as cooling and electronic systems. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which will manage the mission, will begin integrating and testing these subsystems in early August to ensure that they work as intended.
Balloon missions have the advantage that not only do they cost less than space missions, but the time between early planning and deployment is shorter, says NASA. This means that balloons can manage the risks of new technologies that have not yet been deployed in space, including "unknown technical or operational challenges that may affect the scientific results of a mission". Balloon missions provide an opportunity to meet these challenges and help future missions make the most of these technologies.
"Balloon missions like ASTHROS are riskier than space missions, but offer high rewards at low cost," JPL engineer and project manager Jose Siles said in the press release. "We want to make astrophysical observations that have never been attempted before. The mission will pave the way for future space missions by testing new technologies and offering training for the next generation of engineers and scientists."
