NASA will send a balloon the size of a football field to study how stars form

After reports of NASA preparing the Mars spacecraft for high definition pictures, it has been reported that the space organization is also preparing to send a colossal balloon to Earth’s stratosphere to find out more about the formation of celestial bodies.

Mission ASTHROS will depart towards the end of 2023 to spend around twenty one days in the Stratosphere. 

It comprises mainly of a balloon similar to the size of a football field, precisely around four hundred feet wide when inflated and a telescope that can detect light otherwise not visible to the human eye.

There would also be a cooling system that would keep the instruments at absolute zero and a gondola to carry the instruments.

“We will launch ASTHROS to the edge of space from the most remote and harsh part of our planet,” said Jose Siles, an engineer at the Jet PropulsionLaboratory and the ASTHROS project manager. “If you stop to think about it, it’s really challenging, which makes it so exciting at the same time.”

The mission is named after the telescope and is supposed to give insights about the ‘stellar feedback’s testing is supposed to begin next month by engineers of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

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