POLAR-BESS (Balloon-borne Experiment with a Superconducting Spectrometer - POLAR VERSION)

Balloon launched on: 12/13/2004 at 5:54 utc
Launch site: Williams Field, McMurdo Station, Antarctica  
Balloon launched by: National Scientific Balloon Facility (NSBF)
Balloon manufacturer/size/composition: Zero Pressure Balloon Raven - 39.000.000 cuft - (0.8 Mil) - SF3-39.57-.8/.8/.8-NA
Balloon serial number: W39.57-2-41
Flight identification number: 538N
End of flight (L for landing time, W for last contact, otherwise termination time): 12/21/2004 at 22:14 utc
Balloon flight duration (F: time at float only, otherwise total flight time in d:days / h:hours or m:minutes - ): 8 d 17 h
Landing site: 103 miles SW of Siple Dome, Antarctica

The balloon was launched after some cancellations at 1:00 am EST on december 13th, 2004.

After reaching float altitude the balloon started a circular anti-clockwise path over the antarctic plateau.

After 8 days 17 hours and 2 minutes of flight, the payload was cutdown on December 21th, 22:14 UTC at 83°17' S, 154°20' W.

The payload descending with the parachute landed on the Ross ice shelf 43 minutes later at 83°06' S, 155°35' W.

Recovery operation was carried out from December 23th from the Siple Dome camp flying to the impact site seven times with a Twin Otter in order to recover all payload components and also balloon equipment.

In the evening of December 29th, the recovery crew and the recovered instruments returned to the McMurdo Station by a LC-130.

• Balloons in hunt for cosmic rays Article on POLAR-BESS from the Antarctic Sun magazine (PDF ~ 1.5 Mb)
• Measurement of cosmic-ray low-energy antiproton spectrum with the first BESS-Polar Antarctic flight Phys.Lett.B670:103-108,2008
• Measurements of Cosmic-Ray Proton and Helium Spectra from the BESS-Polar Long-duration Balloon Flights over Antarctica Astrophysical Journal, Volume 822, Issue 2, p 65
• Old BESS website University of Maryland
• Short-term and diurnal proton flux variation during the BESS-Polar I balloon flight PROCEEDINGS OF THE 31st ICRC, LODZ 2009
• The results from BESS-Polar experiment To appear in: Advances in Space Research