175
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
M. von Ehrenfried, Stratospheric Balloons, Springer Praxis Books,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-68130-2_8
8
Accomplishments
8.1 SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY EXAMPLES
Balloon missions support many science disciplines including astrophysics, Earth science, planetary science, heliophysics, and technology development. Since their
inception, scientific balloons have delivered cutting edge science. NASA balloon science has yielded insights into the nature of the Earth’s atmosphere, the Sun, the space
environment close to Earth and the universe at large. For example, electron microburst precipitation was discovered with balloons and is now known to be an important
loss mechanism for the Van Allen radiation belts. These rapid bursts of precipitation
provide an ideal target for studying the physics of non-linear wave- particle interactions in space plasmas. Balloons can readily distinguish the spatial and temporal
variations of these bursts, which would be difficult for a satellite in low Earth orbit.
The following examples illustrate just a few of the amazing accomplishments
of scientific balloons over the past decades.
8.1.1 Earth and Atmosphere
NASA’s atmospheric chemistry program has been the primary user of balloons for
Earth science research. Balloon instruments provided the initial observations of
key stratospheric species necessary to understand the processes, both human and
natural, that impact the abundance of stratospheric ozone. Among these are chlorofluorocarbons (CFC) released by human activities and transported into the
stratosphere where they are photolyzed and release chlorine. That chlorine reacts
with and removes ozone in a catalytic cycle which produces radicals of chlorine
monoxide (ClO). Balloon data of the destruction of CFCs and production of ClO
confirmed the CFC-ozone depletion theory.
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
M. von Ehrenfried, Stratospheric Balloons, Springer Praxis Books,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-68130-2_8
8
Accomplishments
8.1 SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY EXAMPLES
Balloon missions support many science disciplines including astrophysics, Earth science, planetary science, heliophysics, and technology development. Since their
inception, scientific balloons have delivered cutting edge science. NASA balloon science has yielded insights into the nature of the Earth’s atmosphere, the Sun, the space
environment close to Earth and the universe at large. For example, electron microburst precipitation was discovered with balloons and is now known to be an important
loss mechanism for the Van Allen radiation belts. These rapid bursts of precipitation
provide an ideal target for studying the physics of non-linear wave- particle interactions in space plasmas. Balloons can readily distinguish the spatial and temporal
variations of these bursts, which would be difficult for a satellite in low Earth orbit.
The following examples illustrate just a few of the amazing accomplishments
of scientific balloons over the past decades.
8.1.1 Earth and Atmosphere
NASA’s atmospheric chemistry program has been the primary user of balloons for
Earth science research. Balloon instruments provided the initial observations of
key stratospheric species necessary to understand the processes, both human and
natural, that impact the abundance of stratospheric ozone. Among these are chlorofluorocarbons (CFC) released by human activities and transported into the
stratosphere where they are photolyzed and release chlorine. That chlorine reacts
with and removes ozone in a catalytic cycle which produces radicals of chlorine
monoxide (ClO). Balloon data of the destruction of CFCs and production of ClO
confirmed the CFC-ozone depletion theory.