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What goes up

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must come down.

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A NASA-funded balloon experiment has been recovered

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a year after flying over Antarctica.

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In January 2016, the balloon circled around the continent for 12 days

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carrying a telescope designed to study the sun. 

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The telescope measured high-energy particles generated from solar flares

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to better understand how these processes can affect satellites and life on Earth.

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After the flight, scientists recovered the data vaults

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but due to incoming winter weather, they left the remaining instruments on the ice.

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This January, in the Antarctic summer, scientists returned to the landing site

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and successfully recovered the instruments and hardware.

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Summer is a good time to recover balloon experiments, 

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and also to launch them.

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The sun doesn’t set for a few months in the Antarctic summer,

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which allows instruments to observe the sun continuously.

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Winds in the stratosphere blow in a circular path around the pole

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allowing missions to return roughly to the place they were launched.

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With a successful recovery,

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scientists are hoping to re-use the instruments for future flights.

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