NASA Gets Set to Livestream Solar Eclipse From Sky-High Balloons

This will be the first time that the solar eclipse will be streamed live online.

A team of researchers from Montana State University has partnered with NASA to participate in the Space Grant Ballooning Project.

(Photo: Reuters)

On Monday, 21 August, the solar eclipse will be streamed live online for the first time, from the vantage point of helium-filled balloons across the US, providing the public with sky-high views as the moon blocks the sun.

A team of researchers from Montana State University has partnered with NASA to participate in the Space Grant Ballooning Project to send more than 50 high-altitude balloons 80,000 feet (24,384 metres) up to capture the solar eclipse as it crosses the country on 21 August.

Also Read: US Will See Total Solar Eclipse on Monday, But India’s Gotta Wait!

This will provide the public with sky-high views as the moon blocks the sun.(Photo: Reuters)

"We'll see the variations from coast to coast to see what the eclipse does over landscapes," Cassandra Runyon, director of the South Carolina Space Grant Consortium, said excitedly at a test launch on Thursday.

Runyon and her team of professors and students will launch balloons from a US Coast Guard boat five to six nautical miles offshore.(Photo: Reuters)

During the eclipse, the moon will pass between the sun and Earth from west to east, and cast a shadow on Earth.

The eclipse shadow is expected to move at 2,000 miles per hour in Oregon and slow down to 1,500 miles per hour in South Carolina, Runyon said.(Photo: Reuters)

The latex balloons, which are roughly 9 feet tall when filled with helium, will be equipped with high-definition video cameras, still cameras and computers. They will be launched from roughly 50 US locations and transmit their images back to Earth.

Team members on land will live stream the video. (Photo: Reuters)

Using a ground station antenna, team members on land will live stream the video online at https://stream.live/.

The 21 August event marks the first total solar eclipse visible anywhere in the lower 48 states since 1979.(Photo: Reuters)

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