Stars can act like they don’t want company. Radiation and “winds” of charged particles – especially from young, heavy stars – can clear away the gas and dust around them. That can prevent the birth of more stars. On the other hand, that process can squeeze the gas and dust, creating new stars.

The process is known as feedback. And it’s the subject of a mission that’s set to launch this month from Antarctica – aboard a giant balloon. ASTHROS is scheduled to reach altitudes of almost 25 miles, and stay aloft for three to four weeks.

NASA launches a dozen or more scientific balloon missions every year. Missions this summer, launched from Sweden, studied the Sun, cosmic rays, and black holes.

Antarctica is an especially good site for balloons. The air is cold and dry, which is good for observing the universe. And high-altitude winds circle around the south pole, allowing a payload to land fairly close to the launch site.

The telescope aboard ASTHROS features a main mirror that’s eight feet across. It’s coated with nickel and gold, allowing it to gather forms of infrared light that are impossible to see from the ground. Its instruments will split the light into its individual wavelengths. That will reveal the composition of gas and dust between the stars, and how that material is moving. From that, astronomers will create 3D maps of regions where new stars are being born – helped or hindered by stellar feedback.

Script by Damond Benningfield