NASA science balloon launch crash

[MikeD]

Lots of time and $$$ lost on this one. Sucks.

A huge NASA balloon loaded with a telescope painstakingly built to scan the sky at wavelengths invisible to the human eye crashed in the Australian outback Thursday, destroying the astronomy experiment and just missing nearby onlookers, according to Australian media reports.

The balloon was carrying the Nuclear Compton Telescope (NCT), a gamma-ray telescope built by astronomer Steven Boggs and his colleagues at the University of California, Berkeley, California to study astrophysical sources in space.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20100429/sc_space/hugenasascienceballooncrashesinaustralianoutback

 

[deadringer86]

Lots of time and $$$ lost on this one. Sucks.



http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20100429/sc_space/hugenasascienceballooncrashesinaustralianoutback

I can't imagine watching that happen when you've dedicated so much time and effort towards putting it together.

 

[ppragman]

I always thought it'd be a good idea to build a telescope into something like a stripped out lear that could go up to 50,000ft or something to get above the atmosphere

 

[KSCessnaDriver]

I always thought it'd be a good idea to build a telescope into something like a stripped out lear that could go up to 50,000ft or something to get above the atmosphere

NASA & a German agency have done it, with a 747SP. Granted, they only fly at 41,000, but it's the same concept. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SOFIA

 

[ppragman]

NASA & a German agency have done it, with a 747SP. Granted, they only fly at 41,000, but it's the same concept. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SOFIA

Awesome!

 

[Dynasty22]

On a related note, didnt NASA or the AF send up a drone or Mach 6 demonstrator and lose it as well?

 

[ILS37R]

On a related note, didnt NASA or the AF send up a drone or Mach 6 demonstrator and lose it as well?

DARPA and a Mach 20 glider, actually.

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/201...ider-disappears-whacking-global-strike-plans/

 

[Jeremy]

On a related note, didnt NASA or the AF send up a drone or Mach 6 demonstrator and lose it as well?

HTV-2

 

[fholbert]

This is what a successful balloon launch looks like.

 

[contactground.9]

This is what a successful balloon launch looks like.

Rofl

It's so funny how people do hinga like this successfully for pennies on the dollar compared to NASA.

 

[mshunter]

This is what a successful balloon launch looks like.

Priceless!

 

[TXaviator]

did it look like this balloon?

 

[Ajax]

NASA & a German agency have done it, with a 747SP. Granted, they only fly at 41,000, but it's the same concept. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SOFIA

Sofia was done at the airport where I got my PPL. I finally saw it fly the other day when I was coming in after its departure. It's a cool plane, and they had a ton of hurdles to jump through to get it certified. My friend's dad was an engineer on it and I had a chance to visit with him about it. Very interesting stuff.

 

[ILSstud]

Imagine the certification to get this thing in the air! Awesome!

 

[Okie_Pilot]

They should of worked with Rutan instead of Nasa.... :bandit:

 

[TFaudree_ERAU]

The balloon was carrying the Nuclear Compton Telescope (NCT)http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20100429/sc_space/hugenasascienceballooncrashesinaustralianoutback

Snoop Dogg got pissed that NASA was reppin' his hood in an un-ghetto fashion, so he bus'ed a cap all up innit.

 

[thehobbit]

Well at least it isn't as bad of a blunder as the Mars Climate Orbiter. They spent in excess of 320 million dollars just to have some engineer use the wrong unit of messure causing it to be distroyed in the Mars atmosphere.

 

[trafficinsight]

Rofl

It's so funny how people do hinga like this successfully for pennies on the dollar compared to NASA.

Yep, and then turn around and claim intellectual property rights and sell it for millions.

I'm all for commercial space flight but exploration in some form should always be a public endeavor.