For ATIC (Advanced Thin Ionization Calorimeter)

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Launch site:Williams Field, McMurdo Base, Antarctica  
Launch team: National Scientific Balloon Facility (NSBF)
Balloon: Open balloon (zero pressure)
Volume: Winzen - 37.570.000 cuft - (0.8 Mil)
Serial number: W 37.57-2-45
Flight identification number: 553N
Campaign: - 
Payload weight: 4159 lbs
Gondola weight: -
Overall weight: 5812 lbs

The balloon was launched by dynamic method on December 19th, 2005 at 5:18 UTC under difficult conditions. In the initial part of the trip to reach float altitude the balloon stopped ascending at ~80 kft.

The flight was continued until an unsatisfactory balloon condition was completely confirmed and was terminated using normal line of sight termination procedures at 8:50 utc. The gondola impacted ground 40 minutes later at coordinates 77º 34.8 South / 172º 22.8 East in the Ross Ice Shelf, 70 nm east of McMurdo Station.

The parachute was successfully separated with the Semi-Automatic Parachute Release (SAPR) system so the payload was not dragged.

(This report will be completed when the recovery operations be completed)  

ATIC (Advanced Thin Ionization Calorimeter)

Responsable institution:  Louisiana State University
Principal Investigator:  Dr. John Wefel - Dr. Gregg Guzik

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.