Data of the stratospheric balloon launched on 12/29/2002
For ATIC (Advanced Thin Ionization Calorimeter)

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Details of the balloon and launch operations


 
Launch site:Williams Field, McMurdo Base, Antarctica  
Launch team: National Scientific Balloon Facility (NSBF)
Balloon: Open balloon (zero pressure)
Volume: Raven 29X - 1.000.000 m3
Serial number: -
Flight identification number: 515N
Campaign: - 
Payload weight: 3845 lbs
Gondola weight: -
Overall weight: 4927 lbs

The balloon was launched by dynamic method December 29th, 2002 at 4:59 UTC and reached float altitude 8:10 UTC on the same day, strating an anti-clockwise path around the Antarctic Plateau.

After 19 days and 21 hours of flight the payload was cut down from the balloon at 2:01 utc of January 18th 2003 at 74º 40' S - 160º 19' E while flying at 124.700 ft. Impact of the payload was at 2:36 utc at 74º 38' S 160º 25' E.

The payload tipped over on landing onto its stern, where the antenna boom was mounted and was dragged about 60 ft before the parachute was cut.

The chase plane and recovery crew landed near the payload but spent only about 10 min on the ground to disconnect the battery and the solar panels, close the gas bottles and get the disks from MSFC cut out since they were very easy to get to in that position. Were necessary another 3 trips to recover the rest of the ATIC payload.  

Images


Click to enlarge.

ATIC's hang test

Payload release

View of the bottom of the gondola in the landing site

View of the top of the gondola in the landing site

 

© ATIC web site

Description of the payload or experiment


ATIC (Advanced Thin Ionization Calorimeter)

Responsable institution:  Louisiana State University
Principal Investigator:  Dr. John P. Wefel

An instrument composed mainly by a ionization calorimeter with the objective of to measure the cosmic ray proton and helium spectra from below 5 x 1010 eV to more than 1014 eV, with statistical accuracy better than 30% at the highest energy.

This unique coverage with a single instrument, will enable the scientists to investigate the spectral difference between hydrogen and helium, and identify any spectral breaks over a broad energy range.

In addition, ATIC filled an existing gap in measurements of the proton/alpha ratio between observations below 100 GeV and the highest emulsion chamber energies.

Concurrently, ATIC will measure the spectra of nuclei up to iron, with individual element resolution and superior energy resolution.  

Performance in flight and data obtained


>> No data available

External references and bibliographical sources


  ATIC web site Louisiana State University
 A dozen days to collect cosmic rays Article on ATIC from the Antarctic Sun magazine
 Atic Experiment: Flight Data Processing Proceedings of the 28th International Cosmic Ray Conference. July 31-August 7, 2003. Trukuba, Japan
 Atic Experiment: Preliminary Results from the Flight in 2002 Proceedings of the 28th International Cosmic Ray Conference. July 31-August 7, 2003. Trukuba, Japan
 Calculation of the atmospheric muon flux motivated by the ATIC-2 experiment 30th International Cosmic Ray Conference, Merida, MEXICO
 Data Processing and Event Reconstruction for the ATIC Balloon Payload Proceedings of the 26th International Cosmic Ray Conference. August 17-25, 1999. Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
 Relative Abundances and Energy Spectra of C, N, and O as Measured by the Advanced Thin Ionization Calorimeter Balloon Experiment Proceedings of the 28th International Cosmic Ray Conference. July 31-August 7, 2003. Trukuba, Japan
 Relative abundances of cosmic ray nuclei B-C-N-O in the energy region from 10 GeV/n to 300 GeV/n. Results from ATIC-2 (the science flight of ATIC) 30TH INTERNATIONAL COSMIC RAY CONFERENCE, 2007, Merida Mexico
 Rigidity Spectra of Protons and Helium as Measured in the First Flight of the ATIC Experiment Proceedings of the 28th International Cosmic Ray Conference. July 31-August 7, 2003. Trukuba, Japan
 The Advanced Thin Ionization Calorimeter (ATIC) for Studies of High Energy Cosmic Rays Proceedings of the 26th International Cosmic Ray Conference. August 17-25, 1999. Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
 The ATIC Science Flight in 2002-03: Description and Preliminary Results Proceedings of the 28th International Cosmic Ray Conference. July 31-August 7, 2003. Trukuba, Japan

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