MSAM-1 (Medium-Scale Anisotropy Measurement)

A balloon-borne instrument to make measurements of the cosmic microwave background (CMBCMB (Cosmic Microwave Background)The oldest light in the universe, representing the thermal afterglow left over from the Big Bang. As the universe expanded and cooled over 13.8 billion years, this primordial radiation was stretched into the microwave region of the electromagnetic spectrum, filling all of space with a faint, uniform glow) anisotropy on angular scales between 0.5 and 3 degrees. The experiment uses a one meter, off-axis Cassegrian telescope, coupled with a four spectral band radiometerRadiometerAn instrument that measures electromagnetic radiation, typically infrared, visible light, ultraviolet, or a combination of these. It quantifies radiometric properties such as radiant flux (total emitted power), irradiance (power received per unit area), or radiance (power emitted in a given direction per unit area). Radiometers are widely used in fields ranging from astronomy and climate science to industrial sensing and remote sensing satellites.. The pointing for the experiment is controlled by a platform which was originally built in the early 1980's by a group at GSFC to map the Galactic plane (FIRS instrument).

Balloon launched on: 6/2/1994 at 1:00 utc
Launch site: National Scientific Balloon Facility (NSBF), Palestine, Texas, US  
Balloon launched by: National Scientific Balloon Facility (NSBF)
Balloon manufacturer/size/composition: Zero Pressure Balloon SF3-459.37-080-NSXC-ST
Balloon serial number: W39.57-2-04
Flight identification number: 1532P
End of flight (L for landing time, W for last contact, otherwise termination time): 6/2/1994 at 13:34 utc
Balloon flight duration (F: time at float only, otherwise total flight time in d:days / h:hours or m:minutes - ): F 10 13 m
Landing site: 25 miles W of Odessa, Texas, US

This second flight was intended to make observations of the same region of sky than in the first flight. It produced a measurement in statistical agreement with the 1992 observation.

• MSAM website (Archived) NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
• MSAM1-94: Repeated Measurement of Medium-Scale Anistropy in the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation Astrophysical Journal Letters v.456, p.L71
• A Balloon-borne Millimeter-Wave Telescope for Cosmic Microwave Background Anisotropy Measurements Astrophysical Journal v.470, p.63
• A Measurement of the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation (CMBR) Anisotropy at the Half Degree Angular Scale Thesis by Inman, Casey Ann (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Physics, 1996
• First Results from the 1994 Flight of the Medium Scale Anisotropy Measurement Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 26, p.1510
• Microwave Mappers Sweat Details SCIENCE - 25 Mar 1994 - Vol 263, Issue 5154 - pp. 1682-1684
• NASA Balloon Flights (1989–1998) in NASA Historical Data Book, Vol. VII: NASA Launch Systems, Space Transportation, Human Spaceflight, and Space Science, 1989-1998
• The MSAM/TopHat Program of Anisotropy Measurements Astrophysical Letters and Communications, Vol. 32, p.273