MkIV Ballooning

Atmospheric research balloons can lift a heavy (2-ton) payload to 38 km altitude, above 99.7% of the Earth's atmosphere. From these altitudes, we can more accurately measure the vertical profiles of many atmospheric gases. There are three advantages of balloon measurements as compared with ground-based observations: 1) Higher vertical resolution 2) Long atmospheric limb paths provide high sensitivity to trace gases. 3) Much less H2O absorption which blacks out wide regions of the IR spectrum from the ground.

MkIV Balloon Launch Sequence (Daggett, California, April 3, 1993)

LEFT: The JPL gondola suspended from the launch vehicle during pre-launch check-out. The MkIV instrument is one of four JPL instruments flown together on this gondola. The others are SLS, Ozone and FILOS. Crush pads (brown) are fixed beneath the four bottom corners and around the upper corners of the gondola to minimize the shock of landing. Below the gondola hangs the ballast hoppers, containing 1200 lbs of steel shot. The total payload weight for this flight was over 4000 lbs.

MIDDLE: Release of the balloon. The launch vehicle shown close-up in the previous photograph is visible in the lower center of this photograph. It must be maneuvered directly beneath the balloon to prevent the gondola swinging into the ground after release.

RIGHT: Seconds later, the gondola payload is released from the launch vehicle and begins its 160 minute ascent to 37 km (23 miles or 121,400 feet) altitude. At launch, only a small fraction (1/300) of the total balloon volume is filled with helium. As the balloon ascends the helium expands, so that by 37 km altitude the entire 29 million cubic foot balloon is fully inflated. After 10 hours at float altitude this flight was terminated and the gondola safely descended back down by parachute (the orange object connecting the balloon to the launch vehicle) landing in New Mexico.

MkIV Balloon Gondola Preparation

MkIV Balloon Flights/Occultations (26 flights as of 2021-09-26)
Date	Flight #	Tangent Latitude (N) (at 20km)	Tangent Longitude (E) (at 20km)	Minimum Altitude (km)	Balloon Altitude (km)	Balloon Volume (MCF)	Launch Site	Event
05-Oct-1989	1	34.6	-105.3	13	37	28	Ft. Sumner, New Mexico	Sunset
27-Sep-1990	2	34.2	-105.6	10	36	28	Ft. Sumner, New Mexico	Sunset
05-May-1991	3	37.5	-111.5	15	37	28	Ft. Sumner, New Mexico	Sunset
06-May-1991		36.5	-113.0	15	32	28	Ft. Sumner, New Mexico	Sunrise
14-Sep-1992	4	35.2	-110.9	23	39	28	Ft. Sumner, New Mexico	Sunset
15-Sep-1992		35.3	-104.0	22	41	28	Ft. Sumner, New Mexico	Sunrise
03-Apr-1993	5	34.8	-114.8	17	37	28	Daggett, California	Sunset
25-Sep-1993	6	34.0	-107.5	6	38	28	Ft. Sumner, New Mexico	Sunset
26-Sep-1993		33.1	-95.3	13	38	28	Ft. Sumner, New Mexico	Sunrise
22-May-1994	7	36.1	-108.6	14	36	28	Ft. Sumner, New Mexico	Sunset
23-May-1994		36.3	-100.9	11	37	28	Ft. Sumner, New Mexico	Sunrise
24-Jul-1996	8	56.7	-100.9	11	24^*	28	Lynn Lake, Manitoba	Ascent^*
28-Sep-1996	9	32.7	-113.1	4	38	28	Ft. Sumner, New Mexico	Sunset
08-May-1997	10	68.7	-146.0	8	38	24	Fairbanks, Alaska	Sunrise
08-Jul-1997	11	66.4	-148.3	7	32	11	Fairbanks, Alaska	Ascent
08-Jul-1997	11	64.7	-150.2	9	32	11	Fairbanks, Alaska	Descent
03-Dec-1999	12	64.2	+19.3	6	34	11	Esrange, Sweden	Sunset
15-Mar-2000	13	67.8	+34.2	11	29	4	Esrange, Sweden	Sunrise
16-Dec-2002	14	64.4	+31.2	12	31	5	Esrange, Sweden	Sunrise
01-Apr-2003	15	68.3	+35.2	11	32	5	Esrange, Sweden	Sunrise
19-Sep-2003	16	34.3	-113.3	7	36	28	Ft. Sumner, New Mexico	Sunset
23-Sep-2004	17	33.8	-109.2	11	38	28	Ft. Sumner, New Mexico	Sunset
20-Sep-2005	18	35.2	-114.1	11	39	39	Ft. Sumner, New Mexico	Sunset
21-Sep-2005		34.0	-110.3	13	29	39	Ft. Sumner, New Mexico	Sunrise
7-Feb-2007	19	67.9	+21.0	-	34	12	Esrange, Sweden	Ascent^#
22-Feb-2007	20	67.9	+21.1	25	34	12	Esrange, Sweden	Ascent^#
22-Sep-2007	21	35.2	-114.1	10	38	28	Ft. Sumner, New Mexico	Sunset
23-Sep-2007		34.0	-110.3	13	38	28	Ft. Sumner, New Mexico	Sunrise
23-Sep-2011	22	34.5	-108.8	6	39	28	Ft. Sumner, New Mexico	Sunset
24-Sep-2011		35.7	-96.3	14	40	28	Ft. Sumner, New Mexico	Sunrise
13-Sep-2014	23	36.2	-112.5	7	39	28	Ft. Sumner, New Mexico	Sunset
14-Sep-2014		35.6	-103.5	8	40	28	Ft. Sumner, New Mexico	Sunrise
27-Sep-2016	24	36.0	-110.5	11	39	28	Ft. Sumner, New Mexico	Sunset
07-Oct-2019	25	33.4	-109.7	7	38	28	Ft. Sumner, New Mexico	Sunset
25-Sep-2021	26	33.5	-107.5	8	39	28	Ft. Sumner, New Mexico	Sunset
26-Sep-2021		33.0	-97.8	10	40	28	Ft. Sumner, New Mexico	Sunrise

^* Flight inadvertantly terminated during ascent. ^# Balloon burst upon reaching float altitude.

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MkIV Ballooning

MkIV Balloon Launch Sequence (Daggett, California, April 3, 1993)

MkIV Balloon Gondola Preparation

MkIV Balloon Flights/Occultations (26 flights as of 2021-09-26)