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TRACER comes down
The
TRACER payload met with some difficulty after about 10 days at
float. Although no one is really sure yet exactly how it
happened, the battery that was responsible for keeping the payload
powered during times when solar power was unavailable exploded (or
burst open or expelled its innards or something like that, no one
knows) and took
with it the entire power system. And so after waiting for about 4
days for the payload to come close enough to the Ross Ice Shelf, the
payload was separated from the balloon about 100 miles away from town
near the Odell Glacier. The instrument hard drive and some of the
NSBF hardware have been recovered, but the rest of the recovery has
been delayed due to weather and the hazard created by the residue left
all over the payload after the battery exploded.
TIGER is still flying high and strong. We will
most likely be within line of sight again just before the New Year.
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