Purpose of the flight and payload description
This mission was a test flight of the systems to be included in the payloads of the ELBBO experiment.
The ELBBO program was a series of balloon launches performed to investigate electrodynamic and plasma processes including ionospheric convection, global current distribution, middle atmosphere generators and tropospheric sources including thunderstorms.
The balloons were launched from Dunedin, New Zealand and subsequent trajectories took them to latitudes between 29 and 85 degrees south and all longitudes. The payload was composed of instruments to measure the vector electric field, electric conductivity, magnetospheric VLF HISS, VLF subionospheric waves, atmospheric X-rays and environmental temperature and pressure.
The resulting data set of the flights is the largest ever collected (Over 410 payload-days) in a stratospheric, vector electric field balloon-borne experiment, rivaling small satellite programs in the coverage duration.
Details of the balloon flight
Balloon launched on: 10/30/1990 at 14:53 utc
Launch site: Scientific Flight Balloon Facility, Fort Sumner, (NM), US
Balloon launched by: National Scientific Balloon Facility (NSBF)
Balloon manufacturer/size/composition: Zero Pressure Balloon SF-78.44-070-TTH
Balloon serial number: R.706-0-103
Flight identification number: 302N
End of flight (L for landing time, W for last contact, otherwise termination time): 10/30/1990 at 22:11 utc
Landing site: 4.5 miles NW of Kenna, New Mexico, US
External references
- NASA Balloon Flights (19891998) in NASA Historical Data Book, Vol. VII: NASA Launch Systems, Space Transportation, Human Spaceflight, and Space Science, 1989-1998
- VLF wave modes determined by the height gains measured during the Extended Life Balloon-Borne Observatory test flight Radio Sci., 31(1), 193210
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