NASA to launch rugby stadium-sized balloons from Wānaka Airport | RNZ News:
Two super pressure balloons, each the size of a rugby stadium, will put NASA's technology to the test …
The heavy-lift balloons would travel the South Hemisphere's mid-latitudes for 100 days or more.
The first would … take measurements more than 100 kilometres above the Earth's surface [to] help scientists predict changes in the ionosphere, which affected communication and navigation systems, NASA said.
The second flight would support several scientific missions, including measuring light and sound waves in the Earth's atmosphere.
The balloons, with a volume of 532,000 cubic metres, would float at an altitude of about 33km, well above the altitude of a commercial plane.