NASA Will Launch GUSTO Balloons to Create 3D Maps of the Milky Way Galaxy

GUSTO launch preparations (photo: dock. NASA)

JAKARTA – The United States Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is preparing the scientific experiment Galactic/Extragalactic ULDB Spectroscopic Terahertz or Gusto in Antarctica.

GUSTO is a balloon that can fly high for 55 days to explore the universe. The balloon is planned to be launched no later than December 21 from the Ross Ice Shelf, near the McMurdo Station research base.

Through this experiment, GUSTO will be used to observe interstellar space through the telescope it carries. This telescope will help NASA scientists to create 3D maps of parts of the Milky Way Galaxy.

GUSTO Principal Researcher, Chris Walker, said that GUSTO will be used as a cosmic radio to listen for certain cosmic materials. This balloon can sense frequency signals sent by atoms and molecules.

“We basically have a radio system that we built that we can turn a knob and tune the frequency of that channel. "If we hear something, we know it's atoms and molecules," Walker said.

Meanwhile, the GUSTO telescope will be used to reveal the 3D structure of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), an irregular dwarf galaxy near the Milky Way Galaxy, which has been explored by NASA's James Webb Space Telescope.

Even though it had been explored, Walker explained that the previous LMC was still quite far away, while the current one was closer. Therefore, Walker and his colleagues believe they can examine the LMC in more detail with GUSTO.

"By studying the LMC and comparing it to the Milky Way, we will be able to understand how galaxies evolved from the beginning of the universe to the present," Walker explained.

GUSTO was the first balloon experiment in NASA's exploration program. With a launch that will take place in the near future, NASA hopes that GUSTO can be a pioneer in producing science using balloons.