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By NASA
5 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
A super pressure balloon with the EUSO-2 payload is prepared for launch from Wānaka, New Zealand, during NASA’s campaign in 2023.NASA/Bill Rodman NASA’s Scientific Balloon Program has returned to Wānaka, New Zealand, for two scheduled flights to test and qualify the agency’s super pressure balloon technology. These stadium-sized, heavy-lift balloons will travel the Southern Hemisphere’s mid-latitudes for planned missions of 100 days or more.
Launch operations are scheduled to begin in late March from Wānaka Airport, NASA’s dedicated launch site for mid-latitude, ultra long-duration balloon missions.
“We are very excited to return to New Zealand for this campaign to officially flight qualify the balloon vehicle for future science investigations,” said Gabriel Garde, chief of NASA’s Balloon Program Office at the agency’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. “Our dedicated team both in the field and at home has spent years in preparation for this opportunity, and it has been through their hard work, fortitude, and passion that we are back and fully ready for the upcoming campaign.”
While the primary flight objective is to test and qualify the super pressure balloon technology, the flights will also host science missions and technology demonstrations. The High-altitude Interferometer Wind Observation (HIWIND), led by High Altitude Observatory, National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado, will fly as a mission of opportunity on the first flight. The HIWIND payload will measure neutral wind in the part of Earth’s atmosphere called the thermosphere. Understanding these winds will help scientists predict changes in the ionosphere, which can affect communication and navigation systems. The second flight will support several piggyback missions of opportunity, or smaller payloads, including:
Compact Multichannel Imaging Camera (CoMIC), led by University of Massachusetts Lowell, will study and measure how Earth’s atmosphere scatters light at high altitudes and will measure airglow, specifically the red and green emissions. High-altitude Infrasound from Geophysical Sources (HIGS), led by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Sandia National Laboratories, will measure atmospheric pressure to collect signals of geophysical events on Earth such as earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. These signals will help NASA as it develops the ability to measure seismic activity on Venus from high-altitude balloons. Measuring Ocean Acoustics North of Antarctica (MOANA), led by Sandia National Laboratories and Swedish Institute of Space Physics, aims to capture sound waves in Earth’s stratosphere with frequencies below the limit of human hearing. NASA’s Balloon Program Office at the agency’s Wallops Flight Facility is leading two technology demonstrations on the flight. The INterim Dynamics Instrumentation for Gondolas (INDIGO) is a data recorder meant to measure the shock of the gondola during the launch, termination, and landing phases of flight. The Sensor Package for Attitude, Rotation, and Relative Observable Winds – 7 (SPARROW-7), will demonstrate relative wind measurements using an ultrasonic device designed for the balloon float environment that measures wind speed and direction. NASA’s 18.8-million-cubic-foot (532,000-cubic-meter) helium-filled super pressure balloon, when fully inflated, is roughly the size of Forsyth-Barr Stadium in Dunedin, New Zealand, which has a seating capacity of more than 35,000. The balloon will float at an altitude of around 110,000 feet (33.5 kilometers), more than twice the altitude of a commercial airplane. Its flight path is determined by the speed and direction of wind at its float altitude.
The balloon is a closed system design to prevent gas release. It offers greater stability at float altitude with minimum altitude fluctuations during the day to night cycle compared to a zero pressure balloon. This capability will enable future missions to affordably access the near-space environment for long-duration science and technology research from the Southern Hemisphere’s mid-latitudes, including nighttime observations.
The public is encouraged to follow real-time tracking of the balloons’ paths as they circle the globe on the agency’s Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility website. Launch and tracking information will be shared across NASA’s social media platforms and the NASA Wallops blog.
NASA’s return to Wānaka marks the sixth super pressure balloon campaign held in New Zealand since the agency began balloon operations there in 2015. The launches are conducted in collaboration with the Queenstown Airport Corporation, Queenstown Lake District Council, New Zealand Space Agency, and Airways New Zealand.
“We are especially grateful to our local hosts, partners, and collaborators who have been with us from the beginning and are critical to the success of these missions and this campaign,” said Garde.
NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia manages the agency’s scientific balloon flight program with 10 to 16 flights each year from launch sites worldwide. Peraton, which operates NASA’s Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility in Palestine, Texas, provides mission planning, sustaining engineering services, and field operations for NASA’s scientific balloon program. The Columbia team has launched more than 1,700 scientific balloons over some 40 years of operations. NASA’s balloons are fabricated by Aerostar. The NASA Scientific Balloon Program is funded by the NASA Headquarters Science Mission Directorate Astrophysics Division.
For more information on NASA’s Scientific Balloon Program, visit:
www.nasa.gov/scientificballoons.
By Olivia Littleton
NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility, Wallops Island, Va.
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Last Updated Mar 14, 2025 EditorOlivia F. LittletonContactOlivia F. Littletonolivia.f.littleton@nasa.govLocationWallops Flight Facility Related Terms
Scientific Balloons Astrophysics Astrophysics Division Goddard Space Flight Center Wallops Flight Facility Explore More
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By NASA
As part of NASA’s Artemis campaign, the Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative, managed out of Johnson Space Center in Houston, is paving the way for conducting lunar science for the benefit of humanity.
Through CLPS, NASA teams worked closely with commercial companies to develop a new model for space exploration, enabling a sustainable return to the Moon. These commercial missions deliver NASA science and technology to the lunar surface, providing insights into the environment and demonstrating new technologies that will support future astronauts—on the Moon and, eventually, on Mars.
Carrying a suite of NASA science and technology, Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost Mission 1 successfully landed at 3:34 a.m. EST on Sunday, March 2, 2025, near a volcanic feature called Mons Latreille within Mare Crisium, a more than 300-mile-wide basin located in the northeast quadrant of the Moon’s near side.Firefly Aerospace Intuitive Machines’ IM-2 captured an image March 6, 2025, after landing in a crater from the Moon’s South Pole. The lunar lander is on its side about 820 feet from the intended landing site, Mons Mouton. In the center of the image between the two lander legs is the Polar Resources Ice Mining Experiment 1 suite, which shows the drill deployed.Credit: Intuitive Machines 2025: A Year of Lunar Firsts
This year has already seen historic milestones. Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost Mission 1 successfully delivered 10 science and technology instruments to the Moon on March 2, 2025. It touched down near a volcanic feature called Mons Latreille within Mare Crisium, a basin over 300 miles wide in the northeast quadrant of the Moon’s near side. Intuitive Machines’ IM-2 Mission, landed near the Moon’s South Pole on March 6, marking the southernmost lunar landing ever achieved.
The lunar deliveries for NASA have collected valuable insights and data to inform the next giant leap in humanity’s return to the Moon, helping scientists address challenges like lunar dust mitigation, resource utilization, and radiation tolerance.
Meet the Johnson employees contributing to lunar innovations that are helping to shape the future of human presence on the Moon.
Mark Dillard: Pioneering Payload Integration
Official NASA portrait of CLPS Payload Integration Manager Mark Dillard. NASA/James Blair Mark Dillard, Blue Ghost Mission 1 payload integration manager, has been at the forefront of space exploration for more than 40 years, including 28 years with the International Space Station Program. Beyond ensuring all NASA payloads are integrated onto the lunar landers, he oversees schedules, costs, and technical oversight while fostering strong partnerships with CLPS vendors and NASA science teams.
“I believe NASA is about to enter its next Golden Age,” said Dillard. “The enthusiasm of Firefly’s engineering team is contagious, and it has been a privilege to witness their success.”
Dillard’s career includes five years as NASA’s resident manager in Torino, Italy, where he oversaw the development of International Space Station modules, including three logistics modules, the European Space Agency’s Columbus module, and two space station nodes.
Mark Dillard in the clean room with Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost Mission 1 lander behind him. “Like Apollo, Shuttle, and the International Space Station Programs, Artemis will add the next building block for space exploration,” said Dillard. “The CLPS initiative is a significant building block, aiming to establish reliable and long-term access to the lunar surface.”
Susan Lederer: Guiding Science in Real Time
Official portrait of CLPS Project Scientist Susan Lederer.NASA/Bill Stafford Susan Lederer, IM-2 project scientist, has spent years ensuring all the NASA instruments are fully prepared for lunar operations. She oversees real-time science operations from IM’s Nova Control Center, working to maximize the mission’s scientific return and prepare for the next generation of astronauts to explore the Moon, Mars, and beyond.
“We have done our best with remote data, but the only way to truly understand the Moon—how to drill for resources, how to live on another celestial body—is to go there and do the experiments,” she said. “Now, we get to do that.”
Lederer’s path to CLPS was shaped by a background in space exploration, astrophysics, and planetary science. She has contributed to multiple spacecraft missions, including NASA’s Deep Impact mission, which sent a projectile into Comet Tempel 1, and a separate mission that retrieved a sample from asteroid Itokawa.
On Ascension Island, a remote joint U.S. Air Force and Royal Air Force base, she co-led the construction of a 20,000-pound optical telescope to study space debris. Her work spans collaborations with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, a tenure as a physics professor, and the design of impact experiments at NASA’s Experimental Impact Lab, where she used a vertical gun firing projectiles at speeds exceeding those of sniper rifles to study asteroid and comet collisions.
Lederer has logged hundreds of hours conducting observing runs at professional observatories worldwide, where she refined both her scientific precision and her ability to repair instruments while working alone on remote mountaintops.
As a private pilot and SciComm (the science equivalent of Capsule Communicator) for NASA’s Desert Research and Technology Studies, she honed her mission communication skills. She was also part of an international team that discovered two extrasolar planetary systems—one with a single Earth-sized planet and another with seven—orbiting ultracool red dwarf stars.
Her expertise has uniquely prepared her to oversee real-time science operations for lunar missions in high-intensity environments.
NASA and Intuitive Machines IM-1 lunar lander mission status press briefing. From left to right: Steve Altemus, Intuitive Machines’ chief executive officer and co-founder; Dr. Joel Kearns, NASA’s deputy associate administrator, Exploration, Science Mission Directorate; Dr. Tim Crain, Intuitive Machines’ chief technology officer and co-founder; and CLPS Project Scientist Susan Lederer. NASA/Robert Markowitz Lederer emphasizes the importance of both scientific discovery and the practical realities of living and working on another world—a challenge NASA is tackling for the first time in history.
“Honestly, it’s when things don’t go as planned that you learn the most,” she said. “I’m looking forward to the surprises that we get to solve together as a team. That’s our greatest strength—the knowledge and teamwork that make this all happen.”
Lederer credits the success of CLPS lunar deliveries to the dedication of teams working on payloads like Polar Resources Ice Mining Experiment-1 and Lunar Retroreflector Array, as well as peers within NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, Space Technology Mission Directorate, and Intuitive Machines.
“What we do every day in CLPS creates a new world for exploration that is efficient in schedule, cost, and gaining science and technology knowledge in these areas like we’ve never done before,” said Lederer. “It feels very much like being a trailblazer for inspiring future generations of explorers – at least that’s my hope, to keep the next generation inspired and engaged in the wonders of our universe.”
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By NASA
NASA/Sara Lowthian-Hanna The phases of the lunar eclipse are visible in this time-lapse image of the Moon above the Space Environments Complex at NASA’s Neil Armstrong Test Facility in Sandusky, OH on March 14, 2025.
Toward the middle of the Moon’s track through the sky, it appears red – this is the Blood Moon. One meaning of a “Blood Moon” is based on its red glow. This blood moon occurs during a total lunar eclipse. During a total lunar eclipse, Earth lines up between the Moon and the Sun, hiding the Moon from sunlight. When this happens, the only light that reaches the Moon’s surface is from the edges of the Earth’s atmosphere. The air molecules from Earth’s atmosphere scatter out most of the blue light. The remaining light reflects onto the Moon’s surface with a red glow, making the Moon appear red in the night sky.
Image credit: NASA/Sara Lowthian-Hanna
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By European Space Agency
The European Space Agency is releasing the first catalogue of astronomical data from the Euclid space telescope, including three new enormous image mosaics with zoom-ins. Follow the reveal live on Wednesday 19 March at 11:00 BST / 12:00 CET.
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