NASA floods stratospheric balloon with telescope in Pacific Ocean a day and a half after launch due to gas leak

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has launched two stratospheric balloons. One continues to fly successfully and the other has recently been sunk in the Pacific Ocean.

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The Super Pressure Balloon (SPB) went to the bottom of the largest ocean on Earth. It would have been launched on 13 May from New Zealand, but a day and a half later the space agency was forced to submerge it. The mission was prematurely terminated due to a gas leak that could not be repaired.

The balloon flew with a payload in the form of the Extreme Universe Space Observatory 2 (EUSO-2) telescope. The observatory was designed to detect intergalactic super-high-energy particle flux, which passes through the Earth's atmosphere.

Experts NASA intends to find out the reason for the gas leak to prevent similar situations in the future. At the same time, at least until the end of this year, the space agency plans to launch balloons.

Source: space