GUSTO is a long duration balloon-borne observatory that flew above Antarctica for 57 days to map the interstellar medium of our galaxy – the gas and dust that fill the space between stars – providing data that helps scientists study how stars and galaxies form.
The mission launched December 31, 2023, from McMurdo, Antarctica. It broke the record as NASA's longest-flying heavy-lift mission, which previously stood at 55 days, 1 hour and 34 minutes.
GUSTO took flight on a zero-pressure balloon carrying a telescope with carbon, oxygen and nitrogen emission line detectors. This unique combination of data will provide the spectral and spatial resolution information needed for PI Chris Walker and his team to untangle the complexities of the interstellar medium, and map out large sections of the plane of our Milky Way galaxy and the nearby galaxy known as the Large Magellanic Cloud.
Principal Investigator : Professor Chris Walker