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Frozen Researchers Set Antarctic Ballooning Record

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the hope-you-like-penguins dept.

coondoggie writes to mention NASA and the National Science Foundation (NSF) have announced a new record in the history of scientific ballooning in Antarctica. The new record was established by 'launching and operating three long-duration sub-orbital flights simultaneously within a single southern-hemisphere summer'. "The milestone is significant, as it occurs during the height of the International Polar Year (IPY), a coordinated scientific campaign that is utilizing scientists from more than 60 nations. NSF is the lead federal agency for IPY, which began in March 2007 and will continue until 2009 to allow for two full years of observations and field work in parts of the world that are generally uninhabitable for as long as six months each year, researchers said. "

4 of 35 comments (clear)

  1. Blagofaire by Ryukotsusei · · Score: 5, Funny

    Was Cory Doctorow on one of the balloons?

  2. Frozen Researchers? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    ... Frozen Researchers...

    I sure hope they thaw them out before they leave Antarctica.

  3. IceCREAM by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny
    From TFA

    The key payloads this winter were: The University of Maryland's Cosmic Ray Energetics And Mass (CREAM) payload which was launched on Dec. 19 I'll bet many a bad joke came out of that.

    Scientist 1:"Hey, we have the Cosmic Ray Energetics And Mass in Antarctica. Its ice-CREAM!"

    Scientist 2: "Shut the hell up, Bob."
  4. Quart in a pint pot by 6Yankee · · Score: 2, Funny

    International Polar Year (IPY) [...] began in March 2007 and will continue until 2009

    Is this another of those NASA metric thingies?