SYDNEY, Australia (AP) -- Undeterred by the failure of its first launch, NASA said it will send up a second giant balloon in March to study the edge of space.
The Ultra-Long Duration Balloon is designed to circle the globe, flying higher than any other. The American space agency hopes the program will revolutionize the study of near space by replacing expensive satellites with balloons.
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Garry Woods, launch director at the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration's station at Alice Springs in central Australia, said a second prototype balloon would be released in early March. The balloons are being launched from Australia to take advantage of favorable air currents.
The first prototype helium balloon sprang a leak a few hours after being released Sunday on a voyage to circumnavigate the globe at a height of 20 miles (32 kilometers).
Scientists recovered the balloon, which had a skin as thin as plastic sandwich wrap, but there were few indications as to why it had failed.
"The balloon is so badly damaged in descent -- it just rips in the air -- that you really can't tell anything,'' Woods said.
NASA said it brought the balloon down on Sunday, Feb. 25 by remote control after it started to leak.
The balloon is the largest fully sealed balloon ever flown with a single chamber of air. Fully inflated, it is 193 feet (59 meters) in diameter and nearly 116 feet (35 meters) high.
Researchers hope the balloon -- which is more than seven times larger than any other of its type -- will circumnavigate the Southern Hemisphere.
NASA says the flight would take two weeks, but future missions will last up to 100 days.
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