BABY (BAckground BYpass)

Also was on board the CAKE (Cosmic Abundance around Knee Energies) experiment for determination of the charge spectrum of cosmic ray primaries with Z>5. Search for exotic rare particles (nuclearites and Q-balls) in the cosmic particle flux.

Balloon launched on: 7/23/2001 at 20:00
Launch site: Base di Lancio Luigi Broglio, Trapani, Sicily, Italy  
Balloon launched by: Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI)
Balloon manufacturer/size/composition: Zero Pressure Balloon  
End of flight (L for landing time, W for last contact, otherwise termination time): 7/24/2001 at 01:05
Balloon flight duration (F: time at float only, otherwise total flight time in d:days / h:hours or m:minutes - ): 5 h
Landing site: En Sicilia, Italia
Payload weight: 345 kgs

Originally the flight was intented to be a transmediterranean flight to Spain. No data about the reason for premature termination.

• BaBy - The Background Bypass IASF Palermo website
• Cosmic ray abundance measurements with the CAKE balloon experiment 29th International Cosmic Ray Conference 2005, Pune, India
• Nocturnal atmospheric UV background measurements in the 300-400 nm wavelengths band with BABY 2001: A transmediterranean balloon borne experiment Proc. 27th ICRC, .Vol. HE, pp. 684-686, 2001
• Transmediterranean flights, in the edge of two centuries Advances in Space Research Volume 33, Issue 10, 2004, Pages 1594-1599