Montana Space Grant Launches Balloons in Spain for Total Solar Eclipse
Montana State’s NASA-supported eclipse ballooning project soared during 2026 total solar eclipse
BOZEMAN, Mont. – Eight Montana State University (MSU) Students and ballooning flight director Michael Walach, associate professor in the MSU’s College of Agriculture, will make a trip to Spain to lead teams launching balloons equipped to capture images of the total solar eclipse on August 12.
The students are members of MSU’s NASA-supported Nationwide Eclipse Ballooning Project(NEBP). NEBP teams from several U.S. universities will visit Iceland and Spain to launch scientific balloons before, during and after the eclipse. The NEBP program is led by Angela Des Jardins, director of the Montana Space Grant Consortium and associate research professor in the Department of Physics in MSU’s College of Letters and Science.
The project’s balloons are equipped with 360-degree cameras to image the eclipse shadow from an above angle. Instruments designed to measure levels of atmospheric ozone, which requires sunlight to form, will also be installed on the balloons.
The eclipse is an opportunity for researchers to better understand the sun, its influence on Earth and the solar system as a whole. The primary question the NEBP aims to answer is how the shadow of the moon affects the atmosphere, and how to better understand the atmosphere.
The NEBP started in early 2014, boasting five successful solar eclipse ballooning campaigns, with a sixth coming on August 12. The recent 2024 total solar eclipse campaign included over 850 participants that made up 53 teams from 75 institutions.
Read the full article on montanarightnow.com
Author Credit: Erica Pocklington NonStop Local Digital Producer
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Original Post Date: 8.7.26