Steward Observatory balloon mission breaks NASA record 22 miles above Antarctica
Seeking clues about the life cycle of stars, the GUSTO balloon mission, led by University of Arizona astronomer Chris Walker, breaks the record as NASA's longest-flying heavy-lift balloon mission.
GUSTO aims to map out distribution of carbon, oxygen and nitrogen in the young Milky Way and in the neighboring Large Magellanic Cloud, which has characteristics comparable to much older galaxies. A comparison of the two galaxies will help the GUSTO team provide the first complete spectroscopic study of all phases of the stellar life cycle, from the development of interstellar gas clouds, to the formation of stellar nurseries, to the birth and evolution of stars.
If Walker's next research proposal goes through, the same instrumentation currently aboard GUSTO may be tested in space, in search of the elusive far infrared signatures of planet-forming systems and habitable zones.
"If you're not pushing the edge, what's the point?" Walker said.