BARREL 1J: Balloon Housekeeping Voltage, Temperature, Current, and Status, 40 s Data

Housekeeping voltage, temperature, current, and payload status values recorded every 40 seconds by the BARREL (Balloon Array for Radiation Belt Relativistic Electron Losses) mission. The mission launched over 50 stratospheric balloons from Antarctica (2013-2014) and Sweden (2015-2016) to study electron precipitation from Earth's radiation belts. Data was collected by NASA as part of the Living with a Star program to augment the Van Allen Probes mission.

Use Cases

• Monitor instrument health and environmental conditions based on housekeeping voltage and temperature data.
• Study temporal variations in electron precipitation events based on synchronized 40-second measurement intervals.
• Correlate balloon-based X-ray measurements with in-situ satellite data based on the mission's coordination with the Van Allen Probes.
• Analyze the spatial scale of relativistic energy precipitation based on data from a constellation of balloons spread across magnetic local time.

Strengths

• Data collected from over 50 balloon flights across four campaigns, providing multiple observational points.
• Measurements are synchronized with comprehensive in-situ satellite measurements from the Van Allen Probes mission.
• Time-series data is recorded at a consistent 40-second interval, facilitating temporal analysis.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• The description notes that analog sensor data is based on a nominal layout and some payload differences may not be reflected, requiring verification for specific sensor needs.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment for large-scale ML tasks.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Collected by instrumentation on stratospheric balloons carrying X-ray spectrometers and DC magnetometers.

Time Range

Campaigns conducted in 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 14:12:19.980186; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Balloon launches from Halley Bay and SANAE IV base in Antarctica, and the Esrange Space Center in Kiruna, Sweden.