TIFR to Release 10 Balloon Flights With ISRO, Department of Atomic Energy

The Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) on Friday said 10-balloon flights will be launched from here for scientific purposes from November 15 to April 30, 2017 with the support of the Department of Atomic Energy and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

B Suneel Kumar, Scientist-in-Charge, TIFR in a statement said the balloons, which carry scientific instruments for research at high altitudes, are expected to reach heights between 30-kilometers and 42-kilometers, depending upon the experiments being undertaken.

The balloons are made of twin (polyethylene) plastic films, ranging in diameters from 50-meters to 85-meters and normally launched between 2000 and 0630.

The instruments will be kept at these heights for periods ranging from a few to 10 hours, and then released from the balloon. After release, the instruments will come down to ground on large coloured parachutes.

The balloon drifts will be on the Visakhapatnam-Hyderabad-Sholapur line, in the areas of AP, North Karnataka and Maharashtra states, he said.

He appealed people those who find the parachute and instruments not to remove them from its place of landing and to telephone or send message to the address given on various packages.

"They are also requested to contact the nearest Police Station, Post Office and district authorities about the finding. Instruments are kept inside wooden cages or large aluminum framework/containers for safety.

"The instruments are extremely sensitive and valuable, scientific data will be lost if they are tampered. There may be high voltages on some of the instruments, which will be dangerous, but only if the instruments are opened up," he said.

No reward will be paid if it is found that anything has been opened or tampered with, he added.