Balloon Launch

The Balloon Array for Radiation belt Relativistic Electron Losses (BARREL) is a NASA sponsored, multiple-balloon investigation that studies Earth's radiation belts. The most recent launch was designed and overseen by Dartmouth physics Professor Robyn Millan and her "Balloon Group", who released the atmospheric sounding device from McMurdo Station, Antarctica on Dec. 9, 2018, as pictured above. Their BARREL payload flies as a mission of opportunity on a NASA superpressure balloon, and is intended to make roughly two full high altitude (30-35 km) circuits above the outer reaches of the Antarctic land mass, collecting valuable data about the behavior of high-energy radiation in Earth's stratosphere.

For more information on the BARREL project, check out its homepage, at BARREL Home.