Data downloaded by parachute from a NASA superpressure balloon

In April-May 2023, the SUPERBIT telescope was lifted to the Earth’s stratosphere by a 1 helium-filled superpressure balloon, to acquire astronomical imaging from above (99.7% of) the 2 Earth’s atmosphere. It was launched from New Zealand then, for 40 days, circumnavigated the 3 globe five times at a latitude 40-50 degrees South. Attached to the telescope were four “DRS” (Data 4 Recovery System) capsules containing 5TB solid state data storage, plus a GNSS receiver, Iridium 5 transmitter, and parachute. Data from the telescope were copied to these, and two were dropped 6 over Argentina. They drifted 61km horizontally while they descended 32 km, but we predicted their 7 descent vectors within 2.4 km: in this location, the discrepancy appears irreducible below ∼2km 8 because of high wind speeds and small-scale variations in wind and topography. The capsules then 9 reported their own locations to within a few metres. We recovered the capsules and successfully 10 retrieved all of SUPERBIT’s data—despite the telescope itself being later destroyed on landing.