Pumpkin-shaped balloon to usher in new dawn of near space research

The launch by NASA scientists of a huge pumpkin-shaped research balloon from the parched red desert of central Australia was postponed Saturday until Monday because of windy conditions.

NASA, which says the balloon will rise to the very edge of the earth's atmosphere and usher in a new era of near space research, had hoped to launch it Sunday.

The unmanned, helium-filled balloon would take up most of a domed football stadium when fully inflated but is made of a material as thin as plastic food wrap.

At launch, the balloon resembles a "long tube with a bubble on top," making it very vulnerable to wind, Prof. Ravi Sood, director of the balloon launch facility in the remote Outback town of Alice Springs, told The Associated Press.

As the balloon rises, the helium inside expands to create the distinctive pumpkin shape, Sood said.

The U.S. dlrs 2 million balloon is designed to carry scientific research instruments higher and for longer than any other balloon.

"Although balloons have been flying for more than 200 years and scientists have long used them for a variety of research missions, the length of time balloons can stay aloft has always constrained their efforts," Steve Smith, Chief of NASA's Balloon Program Office, said in a press release.

"Thanks to greatly enhanced computer technologies, high-tech materials and advanced designs, longer-range balloons are poised to open a new frontier for high-altitude research."

The Ultra-Long Duration Balloon (ULDB) is the largest single-cell, fully sealed balloon ever flown, with a fully inflated diameter of 58.5 meters (193 feet) and height of 35 meters (115 feet).

Once launched, the ULDB will for two weeks circle the globe at an altitude of 35 kilometers (20 miles), three to four times higher than passenger aircraft fly.

At that height, the balloon almost scrapes the edge of space, riding above all but 1 percent of the earth's atmosphere.

The flight is largely for demonstration purposes, but it will also collect data for a cosmic radiation experiment, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration said.

Future missions to study the sun and search for new planets will last up to 100 days. Conventional high-altitude balloon flights last no more than a week because day-night temperature changes reduce altitude, NASA said.