Cosmic ray telescope launches from Antarctica

SuperTIGER is once again flying high above the South Pole. The cosmic ray telescope launched Thursday from Williams Field at McMurdo Station, Antarctica.

The SuperTIGER instrument, or Super Trans-Iron Galactic Element Recorder, was designed to detect cosmic rays, high-energy particles that stream through space. On Thursday, the instrument was carried into the upper atmosphere by a giant weather balloon.

SuperTIGER last took to the skies in December 2012 and January 2013.

"The previous flight of SuperTIGER lasted 55 days, setting a record for the longest flight of any heavy-lift scientific balloon," Robert Binns, research professor of physics at Washington University, St. Louis, said in a news release. "The time aloft translated into a long exposure, which is important because the particles we're after make up only a tiny fraction of cosmic rays."

Bad weather thwarted attempts at a second flight throughout 2017 and most of 2018.

"This is a study of stubbornness and persistence," said Brian Rauch, research assistant professor of physics at Washington University.

After finally being launched, the cosmic ray telescope is now hovering at a max height of 127,000 feet.

While aloft, SuperTIGER will look for evidence of cosmic rays originating from collections of hot, massive and short-lived stars called OB associations. Data collected by the instrument will be used to build models to predict which kinds of particle interactions produce cosmic rays.

Related Links
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