touchdown!

On the fateful morning of 16 Jan 2008, Dave and Phil, our Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility (CSBF) compatriots flew out with Scott, our eldest Ice CREAM science member to see just how far our balloon was from the Ice edge. Some of Dave and Phil's maps in McMurdo said 45 miles, some in Palestine, Texas (CSBF commanding facility) said a mere 35mi; none agreed.

Flying the LC130 yielded a 65mi measurement of reality: just far enough to be mostly safe from landing in the drink, where the whole would be unrecoverable. I am sure joy and whooping echoed through the big plane. None of the big boys were interested in recovering it on the far side of the Transantarctic Mountains, which would have been our next opportunity, and both further from Mactown and at high(er) altitude.

So in a "textbook perfect" termination operation, CREAM III came back to Earth. First the payload and balloon were separated and the payload parachute deployed, then the Helium released from the balloon itself. Both bits landed near each other on the flat white Ross Ice Shelf some 160 nautical miles from McMurdo. Check out Scott's blog for his impressions and pictures.

You can still see it mapped here. CREAM I had 3 revolutions and made a record 42 day flight. While there was a big push from our science PI and relations to go for a 3rd round this year, non-science folks both here and above them determined the resources for recovery would very likely be unavailable by the time CREAM III returned once more to the McMurdo area. So we have a solidly above average almost 29 day flight, in a good recovery location.

And eventually they'll tell us the recovery plan! They ask for our patience as they try to juggle terminating BESS, the remaining balloon, and finalizing recovery plans for us and for ATIC, which was terminated near Pole shortly before CREAM landed. Once plans are in hand, it's waiting for good weather and for resources to become available. Resources? We need 3 Twin Otter flights to recover our ~6000 lb instrument (including ballooning paraphernalia); the Otter can carry ~2500 lbs at a time.

So in the meantime, we wait!
... I feel like I'm getting good at that!


Quote from Dave Sullivan, who's been ballooning down here for 17 years, and 30-some around the globe.