BARREL 5A: Analog Housekeeping Voltage, Temperature, Current, and Payload Status

Over 50 stratospheric balloon payloads collected housekeeping voltage, temperature, current, and payload status values every 40 seconds. The BARREL Mission was a NASA Living with a Star investigation designed to study electron losses from Earth's Radiation Belts, launched from Antarctica and Sweden between 2013 and 2016. The data provides measurements of electron precipitation from the radiation belts to augment the Van Allen Probes mission.

Use Cases

• Analyzing payload health and operational status based on voltage and current readings
• Studying environmental conditions during balloon flights based on temperature data
• Correlating payload status with X-ray spectrometer and magnetometer measurements mentioned in the description
• Investigating spatial and temporal variations of electron precipitation from the radiation belts
• Characterizing the spatial scale of precipitation at relativistic energies as described

Strengths

• Data collected from over 50 balloon payloads across four campaigns
• Housekeeping values recorded at a consistent 40-second interval
• Mission designed to coordinate with comprehensive in situ measurements from the Van Allen Probes

Limitations

• Analog sensor data is 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 from balloon-borne X-ray spectrometers and DC magnetometers launched from Antarctica and Sweden.

Time Range

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

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 03:30:18.011734; freshness should be verified

Geography

Launches from Halley Bay, Antarctica; SANAE IV base, Antarctica; and Esrange Space Center, Kiruna, Sweden.