Balloons on Ice—NASA’s Annual Scientific Balloon Campaign in Antarctica

NASA’s Scientific Balloon Program, with support from the National Science Foundation's United States Antarctic Program, conducts an annual launch campaign November into February in Antarctica, a continent known for multiple extremes: the coldest, driest, and windiest of all. The payloads and instruments flown during the campaign are solar-powered, making this time of year an ideal time for balloon flights since the region experiences sunlight 24-hours a day during the Antarctic summer. In addition, a weather phenomenon during the Antarctic summer known as an anticyclone takes the balloon on a circular flight trajectory, keeping the balloon over the Antarctic land mass over extended periods of time. Keeping the balloon over land helps enable recovery of the payload at the conclusion of the mission. Learn more about NASA’s Super Pressure Balloon technology and the type of science we fly during our Antarctic campaign in this short, 10-minute documentary. (Credit: NASA/Bill Rodman)