LUGGATE, NEW ZEALAND — A giant weather balloon that NASA hopes can orbit the Earth for 100 days as it gathers data about gamma rays was launched on Tuesday.
The 532,000-cubic meter super-pressure balloon was released from Wanaka Airport on New Zealand's South Island at the fifth attempt, after previous bids were halted due to bad weather, according to a NASA press release.
NASA hopes to learn more about near space from the data collected by the giant balloon, which is now orbiting at an altitude of 33.5 kilometers.
The balloon weighs 2,366 kilograms and was inflated with 3,600 kilograms of helium. It cost $1.94 million to produce and is carrying a $1.5 million gamma-ray telescope, Stuff.co.nz reported.
Scientists hope the telescope, known as a Compton Spectrometer and Imager, or COSI, can help them make new discoveries about the universe's evolution, according to Stuff.co.nz.
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