The Indian Atomic Energy Commission (IAEC) and Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) are flying balloons in Andhra Pradesh (AP) from November 1 till the end of April 2023 for collecting weather data under the aegis of TATA Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR)-Hyderabad.
TIFR-Hyderabad in-charge scientist B. Sunil Kumar stated in a press release that the balloons were being used to gather atmospheric data from the year 1956 and they would be doing the data collection from 8 p.m. to 6.30 a.m. from up to 42 kilometres altitude.
These balloons will be hovering over Visakhapatnam-Hyderabad-Sholapur line and their payloads will land in the erstwhile Srikakulam, Vizianagaram, Visakhapatnam, East and West Godavari, Krishna, Guntur, Prakasam, Nellore, Chittoor, Kurnool, Kadapa and Anantapur districts.
‘Don’t move payloads’
The payloads should not even be moved from their place of landing as any disturbance caused to them will result in the loss of data. Information about their landing should be given to the district / village administrations or police concerned, Mr. Kumar stated.
