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LDB (Long Duration Balloon)

33 images Created 6 Oct 2016

LDB, Long Duration Balloon

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  • The Kress used to shuttle scientists and techs to the LDB (Long Duration Balloon) site each morning and return to McMurdo each evening.
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  • Riding the Kress shuttle out to the LDB site on the Ross Ice shelf from McMurdo Station
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  • LDB site, in the distance are the two telescope assembly hangars, the two tallest buildings in Antarctica.
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  • Scott Battaion, LDB camp manager gave me an overview of the project and a tour of the site before letting me photograph on my own.
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  • Telemetry Building
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  • Inside the telemetry building, LDB
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  • Telemetry building interior, LDB
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  • Waxing up the skis
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  • LDB galley/ meeting room
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  • LDB galley and office space for NASA and other personnel. Unlike other field camps in Antarctica, LDB is close enough to McMurdo Station for personal to commute to the site each day rather than live on site.
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  • The Boss, vehicle used to launch balloons
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  • Full moon in Antarctica
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  • STO (Stratospheric Terahertz Observatory) Telescope, a balloon-borne 80 cm telescope exploring the Milky Way in the far-infrared [CII] and [NII] lines. STO had a successful 14-day Antarctic flight in January 2012 and was preparing for a 2015/2016 flight during my visit. Principal Investigator for the project is Chris Walker.
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  • The Stratospheric TeraHertz Observatory (STO) is a NASA funded, Long Duration Balloon (LDB) experiment designed to address a key problem in modern astrophysics: understanding the Life Cycle of the Interstellar Medium (ISM). STO itself has three main components; 1) an 80 cm optical telescope, 2) a THz instrument package, and 3) a gondola.
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  • Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System simulator
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  • Assembling electronics boards
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  • STO shop for assembly and testing.
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  • LDB meeting to discuss project status and get an update on the weather forecast. The launch window is heavily dependent on the circumpolar vortex, a weather pattern that sets in  which can carry a balloon around the circumferance of Antarctic and return it close to the launch location for retrieval.
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  • Excellent pulled pork and jambalaya lunch at the LDB galley. Sitting at far left is Anne Dal Vera, a member of the American Women’s Expedition, who skied to the South Pole in 1992/93. The team included Ann Bancroft, Sue Giller, and Sunniva Sorby, and they were the first women to reach the South Pole overland.
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  • Anne Dal Vera, LDB field camp coordinator and member of the 1992/93 first women's expedition to ski to the South Pole.
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  • The other telescope at LDB during 2015 was the GRIPS (Gamma-Ray Imager/Polarimeter for Solar flares) telescope
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  • The GRIPS telescope will provide a near-optimal combination of high-resolution imaging, spectroscopy, and polarimetry of solar-flare gamma-ray/hard X-ray emissions from ~20 keV to >~10 MeV. GRIPS did launched on January 19, 2016, for a long-duration flight over Antarctica at an altitude of up to 130,000 feet.
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  • Nicole Duncan working on the GRIPS Telescope
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  • GRIPS Telescope
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  • GRIPS Telescope
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  • GRIPS Telescope
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  • GRIPS Telescope
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  • GRIPS assembly and test area
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  • GRIPS Telescope
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  • GRIPS Telescope
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  • Millions of cubic feet of compressed helium in cylinders used to fill balloons which carry LDB telescopes payloads into the stratosphere to altitudes of 130,000 ft (39,620 M). Mount Erebus in the background.
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  • LDB Balloon Site Hangar Buildings, the tallest buildings in Antarctica.
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