BARREL 1I: Balloon Housekeeping Voltage, Temperature, Current, and Status

Housekeeping voltage, temperature, current, and payload status values returned every 40 seconds from the BARREL balloon missions. The BARREL Mission was a NASA Living with a Star Mission of Opportunity designed to study electron losses from Earth's Radiation Belts, with campaigns conducted in Antarctica during 2013 and 2014 and in Sweden during 2015 and 2016. Over 50 stratospheric balloons were launched across the four campaigns.

Use Cases

• Analyzing temporal variations in payload health based on voltage and current readings
• Correlating balloon instrument status with X-ray spectrometer and magnetometer measurements
• Studying the spatial scale of relativistic electron precipitation using payload status data
• Investigating housekeeping sensor performance in stratospheric conditions

Strengths

• Data collected every 40 seconds, providing high temporal resolution for status monitoring
• Over 50 balloon launches across four campaigns, offering multiple observational instances
• Mission designed to coordinate with the Van Allen Probes and other ground/space instruments

Limitations

• Analog sensor data are based on a nominal layout; some payloads may have small differences not reflected
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Data collected from BARREL balloon payloads carrying X-ray spectrometers and DC magnetometers.

Time Range

Campaigns conducted in January-February 2013 and 2014, August 2015, and August 2016.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 04:22:04.602478; freshness should be verified

Geography

Launches from Halley Bay, Antarctica, and SANAE IV base, Antarctica (2013-2014), and Esrange Space Center, Kiruna, Sweden (2015-2016).