On this picture from Dec. 8, 2017, 4 reindeer stroll previous the Balloon Array for Radiation-belt Relativistic Electron Losses, or BARREL, payload on the launch pad at Esrange House Heart close to Kiruna, Sweden. BARREL primarily measured X-rays in Earth’s environment close to the North and South Poles. These X-rays are brought on by electrons that rain down, or precipitate, into the environment from the enormous swaths of radiation that encompass Earth, known as the Van Allen Belts. Understanding this radiation and its interplay with Earth’s environment helps us to study planetary radiation belts, and to raised shield satellites that orbit Earth.
The first BARREL mission ended when scientists despatched their final balloon over Sweden on Aug. 30, 2016. Recovered BARREL payloads have been launched as targets of alternatives on three extra flights. Along with X-ray devices, a number of of the BARREL balloons additionally carried devices constructed by undergraduate college students to measure the entire electron content material of Earth’s ionosphere, in addition to the low-frequency electromagnetic waves that assist to scatter electrons into Earth’s environment.
See extra pictures from the BARREL mission.
Picture Credit score: NASA
