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

Antarctic and Arctic stratospheric balloon campaigns from 2013 to 2016 collected this housekeeping data. The BARREL mission, a NASA Living with a Star project, launched over 50 small balloons to study electron precipitation from Earth's radiation belts. Data includes analog sensor readings for voltage, temperature, current, and payload status recorded every 40 seconds.

Use Cases

• Monitor instrument health and operational status based on housekeeping voltage and current data.
• Study temporal correlations between balloon payload status and space weather events.
• Analyze thermal performance of balloon-borne instrumentation based on temperature readings.
• Validate and calibrate sensor models using the nominal housekeeping layout data.

Strengths

• Data collected from over 50 stratospheric balloon flights across four campaigns.
• Time-series data recorded at a consistent 40-second interval.
• Mission was part of the NASA Living with a Star program, coordinated with the Van Allen Probes.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• The description notes some payloads had small differences not reflected in the nominal sensor layout.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

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

Time Range

2013 to 2016

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 13:41:14.306156; freshness should be verified.

Geography

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