SPACE LAB AT THE SOUTH POLE
A lot of space science is happening in Antarctica
1 ANITA
“To launch a balloon, the surface winds have to be below about eight knots, which is around 14.4 kilometres (9.2 miles) an hour. You also need to have low winds up to about 244 metres (800 feet). The team use a small weather balloon to check those. You’ll see it go up, and then all of a sudden it’ll take off sideways. When these big stratospheric balloons are launched but not yet fully inflated, they’re about 183 metres (600 feet) long. If they hit a heavy wind shear, they can be completely torn apart.” W. Robert Binns, Washington University