Scientist Conquers Antarctica with Super-Tiger Air Balloon

The Super Tiger Balloon getting ready for its release at McMurdo ice station Antarctica.

Dr. John E Ward, an Astrophysicist at Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri, has been in Antarctica since October getting ready for the record attempt.

Dr. Ward is part of a NASA research project called Super-TIGER (Super Trans-Iron Galactic Element Recorder), a two-ton machine that collects cosmic-ray particles at the top of the atmosphere.

Although cosmic rays were discovered over 100 years ago, physicists are still uncertain about where in the Universe they originate.

Dr. Ward and his team are trying to show that cosmic rays come from cosmic explosions within groups of enormous hot stars, known as OB associations.

The Super-TIGER instrument is about the size of a snooker table and weighs in at around two tons.

It was launched from the Ross Ice Shelf, Antarctica on a NASA high-altitude balloon on the 9th December 2012.

The balloon itself is massive, weighing some 5,000 lbs. It is made of plastic and is a little thicker than cling film.

An image of the two and a quarter turns taken around the South Pole by the Super Tiger

The balloon has circled the South Pole twice, at an altitude of around 130,000 feet.

So far the team have collected over 50 million cosmic-ray particles.

This morning Dr. Ward’s balloon flight surpassed the previous record of 42 days, set in 2004 by an Irish man, Jojo Boyle from Donegal, with the CREAM cosmic-ray project.

It is expected that Dr. Ward’s balloon will stay in the air for another 10-14 days.

When the balloon is back close to McMurdo Station, it will be brought down by a remote controlled explosion triggered from a NASA satellite that will rip a massive hole in the balloon and allow the Super-TIGER instrument to fall back to Earth on a parachute.

Dr. Ward will then fly in a small Twin Otter ski plane to whereever in Antarctica that the parachute lands.

His first job will be to secure the valuable data disks before dismantling and recovering the two ton instrument. Dr. Ward is expected to leave Antarctica at the close of the summer season in February 2013.