SALTER TEST FLIGHT

The main purpose of the flight was to perform a technology demonstration to validate several systems developed at the Columbia Balloon Scientific Facility, under supervision of Robert Salter acting as principal investigator. A secondary objective was to transport an additional cargo flown as mission of opportunity belonging to the "Cubes in Space" program: an international educational initiative for school children that teaches them how to design STEM -science, technology, engineering and mathematics- experiments for launch into space.

In this flight of the program nomenclated CiS RB-6 where included ~120 experiments from students from US and several other countries.

Balloon launched on: 8/30/2021 at 15:29 utc
Launch site: Scientific Flight Balloon Facility, Fort Sumner, (NM), US  
Balloon launched by: Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility (CSBF)
Balloon manufacturer/size/composition: Zero Pressure Balloon Raven Aerostar 4.000.000 cuft
Flight identification number: 714NT
End of flight (L for landing time, W for last contact, otherwise termination time): 8/30/2021 at 19:28 utc
Balloon flight duration (F: time at float only, otherwise total flight time in d:days / h:hours or m:minutes - ): 10 h
Landing site: Near Progresso, Torrance County, New Mexico, US

• Cubes in Space website  
• High-altitude demonstration of LWIR polarimetry using uncooled microbolometers Journal of Quantitative Spectroscopy and Radiative Transfer, Volume 315, March 2024, 108872
• NASA to Fly Six Scientific Balloons From New Mexico NASA website