BARREL Mission: Balloon Housekeeping Voltage, Temperature, Current, and Status Data

Over 50 stratospheric balloons were launched across four campaigns from 2013 to 2016. The BARREL Mission, a NASA Living with a Star investigation, collected housekeeping voltage, temperature, current, and payload status values every 40 seconds to study electron precipitation from Earth's Radiation Belts. Observations were made from Antarctic and Swedish launch sites at stratospheric altitudes around 30 km.

Use Cases

• Monitoring instrument health and environmental conditions based on voltage, temperature, and current readings.
• Studying temporal variations in electron precipitation events based on payload status and sensor data.
• Correlating balloon-based X-ray measurements with in-situ plasma wave data from the Van Allen Probes mission.
• Characterizing the spatial scale of relativistic electron precipitation based on multi-balloon array observations.

Strengths

• Data collected from over 50 balloon flights across four campaigns.
• Values recorded at a consistent 40-second sampling interval.
• Campaigns coordinated with the Van Allen Probes mission and other ground/space instruments.

Limitations

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

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Instrument readings from X-ray spectrometers and DC magnetometers carried on stratospheric balloons.

Time Range

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

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 03:58:58.194564; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Launch sites in Antarctica (Halley Bay, SANAE IV) and Sweden (Esrange Space Center, Kiruna).