Giant science balloon lands in western Qld

An enormous research balloon sent 37 kilometres into the air to study gamma radiation rays has landed in western Queensland.

The balloon, which is about two thirds the size of the Melbourne Cricket Ground, was launched from Alice Springs on Tuesday and landed on a property just north of Longreach on Wednesday morning.

Its mission was to collect data about a fast-spinning neutron star, known as Vela Pulsar, which is about 1000 light years from Earth.

Australian Balloon Launching Station's Associate Professor Ravi Sood said the the task was completed beautifully.

"We are studying the properties of the radiation that is being pulsed from the star eleven times a second, like a flashing beacon," he told AAP.

"The star is so incredibly dense.

"If you take one teaspoon of the material that (it's) made of and balance it with the whole population of this world, that one teaspoon of material will weigh as much as every human being put together."

Assoc Prof Sood said the balloon's priceless 800 kilogram cargo will now be unravelled by scientists.

He said the expansive Australian landscape is a perfect testing ground for such research projects because it's sparsely populated and at a good latitudinal level for Milky Way observations.