Balloon Campaign Will Seek Evidence of Antimatter Galaxy
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FILESPEC: ANTIMATR.DOC<\/p>\n
DOCUMENT: Balloon Campaign Will Seek Evidence of Antimatter Galaxy<\/p>\n
[07\/29\/88 Update of NASA Balloon Mission]<\/p>\n
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NASA will launch three huge balloons in Canada next month to
\nsearch for cosmic rays, including those that could provide
\nevidence of galaxies made of antimatter.<\/p>\n
Antimatter consists of particles with electrical charges
\nopposite those of “common” matter, which constitutes Earth’s
\nmaterial. When antimatter and matter collide there is a mutual
\nand complete annihilation, releasing energy far greater in
\nproportion then energy released by nuclear fission or fusion.<\/p>\n
Whether antimatter could ever be created in sufficient
\nsupply and harnessed to provide useful energy is a challenging
\nquestion.<\/p>\n
The flights will begin Aug. 2, in a month-long campaign that
\nis part of the NASA Balloon Program managed by the Goddard Space
\nFlight Center’s Wallops Flight Facility, Wallops Island, Va.<\/p>\n
Balloons that will lift three cosmic ray experiments to
\napproximately 120,000 feet will be launched from Prince Albert
\nSaskatchewan Airport, approximately 300 miles north of the
\nU.S.\/Canadian border.<\/p>\n
Scientific balloons are utilized to carry large research
\npayloads with scientific instruments to make measurements at
\naltitudes above 99 percent of the Earth’s atmosphere. They are
\nmade of a thin polyethylene material and are more than 350 feet
\nin diameter at full inflation. These balloons provide unique
\nexperiment platforms for measurements at altitudes in the upper
\nstratosphere.<\/p>\n
Personnel from WFF and the National Scientific Balloon
\nFacility, Palestine, Texas, will provide the launching and
\noperational flight support at the primary operations site in
\nPrince Albert. Personnel from WFF also will provide downrange
\ntelemetry tracking support at Edmonton, Alberta.<\/p>\n
Principal investigators for this campaign are Dr. Steve
\nAhlen, Boston University; Dr. W. Robert Binns, Washington
\nUniversity; and Dr. Steve Schindler, California Institute of
\nTechnology.<\/p>\n
Ahlen’s extragalactic antimatter experiment is a 4,500-pound
\npayload that will search for heavy anti-nuclei (anti-silicon to
\nanti-iron), and will be flown on a 28.4 million cubic foot
\nballoon. The observed anti-nuclei are expected to provide
\nevidence for the existence of galaxies made completely of
\nantimatter. Scientist believe this discovery could prove to be
\nextremely useful for understanding the annihilation process
\nbetween matter and antimatter in the creation of galaxies.<\/p>\n
Binns’ payload, called the scintillating optic fiber
\nexperiment is a 1,200-pound cosmic ray isotope experiment that
\nwill utilize newly-developed range and trajectory-defining
\ndetectors based on scintillating fiber optics. It also will be
\ncarried aloft by a 28.4 million-cubic-foot balloon.<\/p>\n
Schindler’s 2,700-pound payload, to be carried on a 23.3
\nmillion-cubic-foot balloon, is the high energy isotope
\nspectrometer telescope. This experiment employs a combination of
\nscintillators and counters to form a cosmic ray isotope
\nspectrometer capable of measuring the isotopic composition of
\ncosmic rays from helium to nickle.<\/p>\n
The mission is part of the overall NASA Balloon Program,
\nmanaged at Wallops. The program provides 40-45 balloon flights a
\nyear from locations around the world.<\/p>\n
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\n{*via FTL-BBS\/NASA-Huntsville Link*}<\/p>\n
