Space balloon crashes into car in Alice Springs

[tblaxland]

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/04/29/2885563.htm?section=justin

A multi-million dollar scientific space balloon has crashed on take-off in Alice Springs, destroying its payload, tipping over a car and sending observers running for their lives.

There is a video available on that page too.

Launch site is from runway 17/35 at Alice Springs Airport AFAIK.

Excellent to see some space news from Oz (even if it is a failure) :thumbup:

 

[jinglesassy]

What attaching a weather balloon to a camera set to take pictures every few seconds isn't good enough?

 

[tblaxland]

What attaching a weather balloon to a camera set to take pictures every few seconds isn't good enough?

The payload was a gamma-ray telescope (Nuclear Compton Telescope) designed "to observe and map diffuse nuclear line emission from the galactic center" (http://stratocat.com.ar/fichas-e/2009/FSU-20090517.htm). I don't understand your comment but in any case the answer is "no" :shrug:

 

[Sky Captain]

Why were they attempting to launch in so strong wind?

 

[tblaxland]

Why were they attempting to launch in so strong wind?

I honestly don't know. Judging by the expert comments here, the first suspicion would be GO fever.

Expert #2: "...In order for a balloon to lift a very heavy payload to the stratosphere, it requires a very large balloon with a lot of helium. The large amount of helium causes the balloon to rise very quickly when it is released. Any change in the wind causes big problems for the crew to align the launch vehicle correctly before the balloon starts to pull on the payload. It is apparent that the balloon got in front of the payload before the launch vehicle could get in the correct alignment for a good launch. The balloon apparently tore the payload off of the launch vehicle. With the balloon ahead of the payload, the payload did a pendulum motion hitting the ground and dragging before the parachute could be released from the balloon by command..."

 

[garyw]

Why were they attempting to launch in so strong wind?

They weren't. As I understand it the ballon was supposed to be moored to the ground whilst it was slowly filled up and hte plan was to launch it later in the day when the winds had calmed but a problem with one of the mooring ropes lead to the accident that you saw.

 

[Andy44]

The video reminds me of some of the newsreal films of airship accidents from the old days.

 

[researchpilot]

Its a shame - I know they were in the Alice for quite a long period of time trying to launch this balloon. I was chase pilot, probably not the best term, for a previous balloon experiment out there many years ago and it took around 3 months to get a good launch. Every morning at 1am we would commence launch preparation but we were always hampered by the winds around dawn. From memory the balloon is around 500 ft long (perhaps longer) when they first start to inflate it - it only takes a couple of knots difference between the ground and that height to cause problems. We got a successful launch eventually but had to bring it down a couple of hours later as it was through around 90,000 ft after it sprang a leak. The payload detaches around 15,000 ft and then comes down by parachute which is then ejected by explosive bolts after touch down. We got another good launch a few weeks later and had to bring it down near the West Australian coastline for the same reason again - it was scrubbed after that and didn't fly again.

 

[tblaxland]

The HERO payload was finally launched today:

NASA keeps latest balloon launch under wraps

It is an X-ray astronomy exercise that will look at the centre of the Milky Way from about 40 kilometres above Earth.

Mr Sood says the multi-million-dollar experimental balloon will track towards Longreach in Queensland and remain aloft for about 24 hours.

Mr Sood says the launch details were kept a secret because of the accident last year.

"This is why most people wouldn't have heard about it,'' he said.

"It was a deliberate policy this time round to discourage spectators from attending because we wanted to emphasise the safety aspects of the launch.

Live GPS tracking is available here: http://www.csbf.nasa.gov/map/psnconvGps617N.htm

 

[tblaxland]

The balloon is expected to land today:

Huge NASA space balloon to land in outback

A multi-million dollar scientific balloon is drifting over outback Queensland and is expected to land today somewhere near Longreach.

It is carrying two tonnes of equipment to study the centre of the Milky Way galaxy.

Ravi Sood from the Balloon Launching Centre says the timing and location of the landing will depend on wind conditions.

He says people may see it in the sky.

"It will not appear huge in the sky, but you can see it very, very clearly," he said.

"It really stands out like a very bright star. The dimensions are roughly the size of the MCG, so you are talking about 1.3 million cubic metres. It is huge, it is absolutely enormous."

Current distance made good is 1108 km.

 

[Notebook]

Appears to be down now:
http://www.csbf.nasa.gov/map/psnconvGps617N.htm

I see it did a loop over the secret alien base North of Birdsville...

N.