Research Objectives:
This project's goal is to understand the loss of very energetic electrons (0.5 to 10MeV) from the Earth's radiation belts into the atmosphere. From previous balloon flights, it is believed that most of this loss happens in short-lived events very different from better-known kinds of electron loss.
Researchers will launch four small balloon payloads with X-ray, electric field and magnetic field instrumentation in an effort to observe some of these loss events from several positions around the Earth at once. By launching below the South Atlantic, the experiment takes advantage of the weakness in the Earth's magnetic field at that point to observe "drifted" echoes of precipitation (loss) events happening all over the Earth. From these data, investigators hope to deduce the physical mechanism that causes the precipitation, and see whether it may also be related to the acceleration of radiation-belt electrons to high energies.
Project team members will fly to Cape Town, South Africa where they will board a South African research ship for transport to SANAE station (South African National Antarctic Expedition).
