Publication Date:
2019-07-13
Description:
The Balloon Experimental Twin Telescope for Infrared Interferometry (BETTII) mission launched from Palestine, Texas in June 2017. After an exciting launch and successful cruise, the BETTII gondola suffered an anomalous event at termination. BETTII separated from its parachute and free-fell 136,000 feet into the west Texas desert. This event was classified as a "close-call" and investigated as such. We present here the recovery effort required to find the payload and extract the payload from its impact site. We also present lessons learned from the event and results from the investigation, the design for the next BETTII gondola, and a path forward for return to flight.
Keywords:
Launch Vehicles and Launch Operations; Astronomy
Type:
GSFC-E-DAA-TN67081
,
SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2018,; Jun 12, 2018 - Jun 14, 2018; Austin, TX; United States|Proceedings of SPIE (e-ISSN 0277-786X); 10700; 1070028; 1070028-1-1070028-11|SPIE Ground-Based and Airborne Telescopes; Jun 12, 2018 - Jun 14, 2018; Austin, TX; United States
Format:
application/pdf
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