September 9, 2010 Updated

Atmospheric balloon experiment BS10-06 completed

At 5:38 a.m. on September 8, 2010, JAXA released the fourth balloon of the second balloon experiment in Japan Fiscal Year 2010 from the Taiki Aerospace Research Field, the base of the collaborative work. The release experiment, called BS10-06, aimed at testing the high-altitude thin film balloon flight performance and observing the ozone and atmospheric gravitational waves. The balloon that was expanded to its full capacity of 60,000 m³ was made of a thin film for high altitude with a thickness of 3.4 micrometers, and it ascended about 300 meters per minute.
In this experiment, we achieved the scheduled objectives of flight verification for a thin-film high-altitude balloon using the polyethylene thin film that is wider than conventional films, and the balloon's tearing mechanism for a thin-film balloon. At the same time, the balloon carried out precise observations on the ozone, wind velocity, temperature and air pressure using two kinds of ozone measurement devices -- an optical type and electrochemical type (ECC,) -- to observe the ozone's altitude distribution and atmospheric gravitational waves between the near ground area and the upper stratosphere. Both the high-precision ECC ozonesonde and the precision optical ozonsonde functioned properly at an altitude of less than 30 km and higher than 30 km respectively, and we successfully observed the upper stratospheric regions at an altitude of 46.8 km.
We were able to acquire enough data to study changes in the ozone and atmospheric gravitational waves over years and places by comparing the data from this experiment with the first data acquisition at the Taiki Aerospace Research Field, and past observation results acquired at the Sanriku Balloon Center.

August 30, 2010 Updated

Atmospheric balloon experiment B10-03 completed

At 5:41 a.m. on August 27, 2010, JAXA released the second balloon of the second balloon experiment season in JFY 2010 from the Taiki Aerospace Research Field, the base of the collaborative work. The release was part of the B10-03 experiment which aims at flying a bale (or a straw rice bag) shaped balloon. The balloon that was expanded to its full capacity of 5,000 m³ ascended 250 meters per minute.
The balloon reached an altitude of 25.2 km above the Pacific Ocean about 90 km east-north-east of the Taiki Aerospace Research Field in one hour and 45 minutes after the release, and the pressure inside the balloon, which was fully inflated by then, became higher than the atmospheric pressure. However, the film tore at the lower part of the balloon and the inside pressure was not maintained when the pressure difference between the inside and the outside reached 64 Pa at 7:25 a.m. while the inside pressure was increasing.
The main purpose of this experiment and research is to develop a bale shaped pressurized balloon whose air resistance is one digit lower than a conventional zero-pressure balloon due to its shape in order to realize the power balloon whose flight trajectory can be controllable at a future altitude of some 35 km. In this experiment, we used a smaller model of 5,000 m³ at full capacity volume, and confirmed the expansion process till full deployment under the stratospheric environment. We have also verified the movement of the balloon rupture mechanism of a pressurized balloon. The balloon film was actually torn at the lower pressure difference than we expected, thus we would like to study the reasons why the internal pressure was not maintained by investigating the pressure difference record and image data of the balloon deployment process, then incorporate the study results into future research and development.

August 23, 2010 Updated

Atmospheric balloon release experiment B10-02 completed

At 5:12 a.m. on August 22, 2010, the B10-02 balloon, which aims to acquire cryogenic samples from the stratospheric atmosphere, was released from the Taiki Aerospace Research Field, the base of the first collaborative work for the second balloon experiment session in JFY 2010. The B10-02 is a large balloon with a full expansion volume of 100,000m³. It was ascending while taking samples from the stratospheric atmosphere.
The purpose of this experiment is to acquire a large volume of samples by solidifying the stratospheric atmosphere through a cryogenic method using liquid helium. The sample air will be provided to measure the concentration and isotopic ratio of various atmospheric contents including greenhouse effect gases. Acquisition of the stratospheric atmosphere was carried out between 14.6 km and 30.0 km in altitude while the balloon was ascending, during its horizontally floating, and at an altitude between 33.8 km and 28.3 km while descending. We successfully collected 12 sample containers of air in total from different altitudes.
The samples will be analyzed using cutting-edge analysis devices at participating institutions including Tohoku University, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Miyagi University of Education and the National Institute of Polar Research.
(Photo: Helium gas is loaded onto the balloon at JAXA's hangar.)

August 17, 2009 Updated

BESS-Polar project receives NASA Group Achievement Award

The Balloon-borne Experiment with a Superconducting Spectrometer (BESS-Polar) project received the NASA Group Achieving Award. The project aimed at observing cosmic particles using a superconducting spectrometer installed on a balloon that circulated around the Antarctic. The first experiment was carried out in 2004, and a balloon circled above the Antarctic observing cosmic particles and rays. After the first experiment, the observation device was upgraded, and between December 2007 and January 2008, the second experiment was conducted. The balloon launched from the U.S. MacMurdo Base made almost two cycles above the Antarctic taking about 30 days, and observed 4.7 billion cosmic ray phenomena. Among them, the experiment detected over 8,000 phenomena of low-energy cosmic ray antiproton. The award this time was given for the development of the BESS-Polar observation device, which led to the global-leading investigation method of cosmic antimatter, and the successful 30-day balloon project.
(Photo: The release of the balloon)