Quotes from balloon scientists
• “A balloon payload is a satellite on a string.”
John C. Mather, Nobel Prize Winner
• “Ballooning is viewed as a best-value proposition by many scientists. A balloon can place an experiment in essentially a space environment in a relatively
short time after the inception of an experiment and at a low platform cost. ”
Stephen Hottman, Associate Dean for Research and Development and
Deputy Director of the Physical Science Laboratory at NMSU
• “Also, when satellites are developed, instruments and detectors must be
specified years in advance. It typically takes 10 years to produce a satellite,
but even the most complex balloon experiments can be developed in a third
of that time. So in some cases, balloon experiments fly more sophisticated
detectors than are possible on satellite missions simply because the technology is newer.”
Stephen Hottman
• “Because Earth’s atmosphere absorbs the cosmic microwave radiation,
measuring the radiation requires putting instruments in space. Balloons
offer scientists the advantage of carrying instruments to altitudes of about
30 miles, above 99.5% of the Earth’s atmosphere, at a fraction of the cost of
launching a satellite into orbit.”
Danny Ball, then Head, CSBF
• “Mather and Smoot’s Nobel Prize is quiet testimony to the value of balloons as a springboard to great science and sometimes the vehicle for great
science in itself. George Smoot was a long-time user of balloons from the
70’s through the early 90’s. That’s the chief reason Smoot and other cosmologists have been avid balloon scientists”.
Danny Ball, then Head, CSBF
• “Heavy elements, like the gold in your jewelry, are produced through special
processes in stars, and SuperTIGER aims to help us understand how and
where this happens. We’re all stardust, but figuring out where and how this
stardust is made helps us better understand our galaxy and our place in it.”
Co-investigator John Mitchell at NASA GSFC.
• “Within the last few years, it has become apparent that some or all of the
very neutron-rich elements heavier than iron may be produced by neutron
star mergers instead of supernovas.”
Co-investigator Jason Link at Goddard
312 Appendix 4: Quotes
• “A balloon payload is a satellite on a string.”
John C. Mather, Nobel Prize Winner
• “Ballooning is viewed as a best-value proposition by many scientists. A balloon can place an experiment in essentially a space environment in a relatively
short time after the inception of an experiment and at a low platform cost. ”
Stephen Hottman, Associate Dean for Research and Development and
Deputy Director of the Physical Science Laboratory at NMSU
• “Also, when satellites are developed, instruments and detectors must be
specified years in advance. It typically takes 10 years to produce a satellite,
but even the most complex balloon experiments can be developed in a third
of that time. So in some cases, balloon experiments fly more sophisticated
detectors than are possible on satellite missions simply because the technology is newer.”
Stephen Hottman
• “Because Earth’s atmosphere absorbs the cosmic microwave radiation,
measuring the radiation requires putting instruments in space. Balloons
offer scientists the advantage of carrying instruments to altitudes of about
30 miles, above 99.5% of the Earth’s atmosphere, at a fraction of the cost of
launching a satellite into orbit.”
Danny Ball, then Head, CSBF
• “Mather and Smoot’s Nobel Prize is quiet testimony to the value of balloons as a springboard to great science and sometimes the vehicle for great
science in itself. George Smoot was a long-time user of balloons from the
70’s through the early 90’s. That’s the chief reason Smoot and other cosmologists have been avid balloon scientists”.
Danny Ball, then Head, CSBF
• “Heavy elements, like the gold in your jewelry, are produced through special
processes in stars, and SuperTIGER aims to help us understand how and
where this happens. We’re all stardust, but figuring out where and how this
stardust is made helps us better understand our galaxy and our place in it.”
Co-investigator John Mitchell at NASA GSFC.
• “Within the last few years, it has become apparent that some or all of the
very neutron-rich elements heavier than iron may be produced by neutron
star mergers instead of supernovas.”
Co-investigator Jason Link at Goddard
312 Appendix 4: Quotes