Giant Balloon To Launch Sun-Watching Telescope

摘要

A telescope lashed to a giant balloon is poised to lift off from Sweden as early as June 1 to study the surface of the sun. Dubbed Sunrise, the balloon observatory should stay aloft for nearly a week as it travels from the Esrange Space Center in Sweden over the arctic to a safe touchdown in Canada. The mission is part of a NASA experiment for balloon launches and is slated to fly up to six days to snap high-resolution photographs of the sun's surface. The telescope and its gondola of scientific instruments are a 2-ton payload that will be borne under a balloon that is larger than a sports arena, filled with nearly 1 million cubic meters of helium. It should cross the arctic at an altitude of nearly 37 kilometers. To track the sun while it floats above Earth, the gondola has a pointing system that allows it to rotate horizontally.