BARREL Status Report #10 August 14, 2016

BARREL Status Report #10

August 14, 2016

I’m happy to report that BARREL Flight 4A was a success! The balloon and payload both performed well. The flight was terminated at 0540 UT because it was moving west towards lakes and mountains. It was a short flight, but longer than we expected. Most importantly, we caught the conjunction with RBSP-A that we were targeting, and we saw a precipitation event that lasted almost two hours.  A preliminary look suggests that this was bursty, most likely microburst precipitation. We’ll need to look at the data more carefully, but this looks very promising. The payload is now on the ground at 67.72N, 18.88E, and recovery prospects look good. 

I think the team will be resting for most of the day today. We expect the next launch attempt to be on Tuesday. I will send another update when we get a better look at the surface weather.

Robyn

From Arlo 

We have recovered the payload from flight 4A! There was some light damage to the box and handles, but the payload seems intact upon initial inspection. The flight was about 5 hours at float, and recovery was smooth in an easy to reach, relatively dry area.

BARREL Daily Update: Aug. 10th 2016

Update Summary

Not much news. The high speed stream (HSS) has had an oscillating Bz magnetic field component which means that there hasn't been a geomagnetic storm as defined by Dst associated with it. (The more southward Bz the more solar wind energy can enter the magnetosphere and ultimately produce a geomagnetic storm) There have been some strong(ish) substorm activity throughout the last 24 hours. Substorm processes produce aurora at higher latitudinal regions. The HSS appears to be starting it's decline and should completely pass us by the morning of Aug. 12. 

There are three large numbered sunspots which have now rotated onto the Earthward side of the solar disk. They are all beta or alpha class (not very complex) and so currently are unlikely to produce a coronal mass ejection (CME), but they are growing in complexity and not yet Earth-Directed. 

News from Kiruna

Next possible launch date - Evening of Aug. 13th for the early morning conjunction on Aug. 14th

News from Van Allen Probes:
Summary

The lapping event, where the spacecraft are very close together is happening I think today. 

News from MMS: 
MMS team needs to know within 24 hours if you would like them to download data. E-mail Drew Turner or Allison Jaynes if you would like them to collect data in a specific region/time for conjunction studies.

News from THEMIS: 

As an update, the THEMIS team have enabled fast survey captures at
the L-shell of BARREL and the neighboring inner magnetosphere (L> ~3)
for the context of possible conjunctions with this BARREL campaign.
Within these fast survey intervals, thye also trigger particle and wave
bursts to capture high-frequency waves (whistler-mode).

This special data collection scheme is implemented on the three inner
probes for Aug. 10-25 (starting from Aug. 11 for TH-D), based on your
estimated interval of this BARREL campaign.

Space Weather  from Spaceweather.com, SWPC.noaa.gov , http://relativisticballoons.blogspot.com/2016/08/space-weather-update.html,  and Kyoto (possibly others as well)

Swedish Institute of Space Physics: Kiruna Magnetometer:  http://www.irf.se/Observatory/?link=Magnetometers

quiet but it looks like this past evening there was a substorm. 

Sodankylä Geophysical Observatory: Finnish Magnetometer Array: http://www.sgo.fi/Data/Pulsation/latestPulsation.php

EMIC waves observed around noon at Kilpisjarvi and IVALO on Aug. 9th. 

Sodankylä Geophysical Observatory: Scandinavian Riometer data http://sgo.fi/Data/Riometer/latestRiometer.php

Just a reminder Riometers are not my area of expertise, but it does look like there may have been precipitation from around Aug. 9th on and off starting at 0300UT and continuing  throughout the afternoon into the midnight hours. 

NOAA GOES Electron Flux:
Some significant activity with today's substorms and a bit before hand as well. 

NOAA GOES Proton Flux:
nominal levels.

ACE Solar wind speed: 

Vsw =  620.5 km/s

ACE Solar proton density:

density =  1.5 protons/cm^3

Sunspot number:
72 and Sunspot AR2571 has a beta-gamma complexity which means that there is at a slightly higher chance for an M-class solar flare. Currently it looks like if we were so lucky for it to produce a CME, it may be Earth directed. There are a few more larger sunspot regions (2574, 2575, and 2576) which are now starting to appear on the disk and may produce Earth directed CMEs in a few days giving a potential arrival time of about 1 week from now. This is all speculative at the moment but stay tuned! 

Flare activity:

6-hr max B4 

24 hr max B5

Kp:
kp =   4 with a 24 hour max of kp = 4

SW magnetic field:

Bz = 0.4 nT South

Btotal =  4.1 nT

Coronal hole news
The high speed stream has reached the Earth and the solar wind velocity is expected to stay high until about August 12th according to the WSA-ENLIL models. Bz has been fluctuating and so no geomagnetic storm has been produced, but there has been some nice substorm activity.

AE:

Possible substorms around 8:45 and 10:00 UT today. It does seems to have been slightly elevated throughout the morning hours though. 

Dst:

Very quiet. 

Swedish Phrase of a the Day: https://www.innovativelanguage.com/word-of-the-day/swedish 

Grönsaker är en mineral-och vitaminrik källa

Vegetables are a rich source of vitamins and minerals. 

Hej då och god kväll från Kiruna (Good bye and good evening from Kiruna), 

Alexa and the BARREL team.

BARREL Status Report #2: August 3rd 2016

BARREL Status Report #2

August 3, 2016

Great news  - most of our cargo arrived today. Finally! We were able to set up our lab space and get the first payload (2J) checked out and configured for flight. We will do a comprehensive performance test with this payload tomorrow morning. We also got a second payload (2S) halfway through the checkout procedure. The last step is to integrate the X-ray detector before buttoning it up. We also wired the flight batteries for the first two payloads and have started charging the flight batteries. Tomorrow we plan to do a hang test with ESRANGE equipment. We’ll weigh everything and make sure everything fits where it’s supposed to. The sun even came out today!

A few reminders about communication during our campaign:

If you would like to be added to the email list for our more extended daily update (that goes to the science community and includes space weather information), please respond in the comment section or contact Alexa.

The extended daily email is also posted on the BARREL Science blog at 

http://barrelscience.blogspot.com/

We also have a blog page for more a general audience (which you already know about since you are here) at: 

http://relativisticballoons.blogspot.com/

On August 5, we will have our first brief burst telecon with Van Allen Probes, MMS, FIREBIRD, and Aerocube 6 instrument PIs. If you have an instrument that you would like to coordinate measurements with BARREL, let us know and we'll get you on these telecoms. We will start doing daily burst telecoms for coordination with the other missions a few days before our first launch. 

Robyn

Weekend Flight Preparations

The BARREL team had an action-packed weekend of launch preparations and payload testing.

We set out four payloads over the course of beautiful Saturday and had them complete their comprehensive tests.

Greg sets out a Pelican case to support a fourth payload outside.

The payload we intend to fly on Monday (today!) is 2S, now renamed 3A as the first payload on the third campaign. 2S is special in that it carries its magnetometer on a long boom. All payloads in previous campaigns had this attachment, but this campaign is primarily keeping the magnetometers sealed within the payload box itself. Its backup payload is 2H, which has no such boom.

Sunday saw worse weather, but we successfully completed flight preparations by weighing the payloads/flight trains for 2S, 2H, and 1Z, an alternative back up.

Following tests on Sunday, we went out into Jukkasjärvi, the small town that houses Esrange.

A beautiful lake in Jukkasjärvi.

 

We drove through sunset on our way home — this time at 9:57 pm! We've been gaining eight minutes of darkness each day.

As of Monday morning, we have passed Esrange's Flight Compatibility Test and had our required NASA Flight Readiness Review. Monday afternoon we are go for launch of payload 2S/3A! Stay tuned for the post-launch update, including photos from the FCT and pre-launch preparations.

Kathryn

Glad Fredag!

It's been a whirlwind of a Friday!

We took our payloads outside for our launch "Dress Rehearsal"...

Payload 2S on the launch pad next to the balloon ground cloth.

...only to have it start raining the minute we got out there.

Greg, Robyn, Arian, and Brett take the payload inside under a tarp.

 The rain didn't stop us from testing, however.

Greg ponders what to do behind payload 2S.

We ran three payloads under cover of the warehouse while the rain played out.

Suddenly, the sun came out, and we got the perfect weather we had hoped for.

Payloads 1Z, 2J, and 2H.

Payloads 1Z, 2J, and 2H all completed their Comprehensive Tests. We were also able to weigh the flight train for payload 2S — the first payload we hope to launch this week!

As we wrapped up our tests, we discovered that we had completely 'buttoned up' all six payloads. The weather was beautiful, and it was time to celebrate by going into Kiruna after dinner.

A rainbow celebrates with us over the launch pad.

Greg, Nick, and Brett in Kiruna, Sweden.

We wandered the town, looking at the shops and brightly colored homes. Most things were closed after 6 pm, so we occupied our time with walking as much of the town as possible.

Beautiful homes and store fronts in Kiruna.

As it got late, we walked to an overlook to watch the midnight sunset.

Greg points out the terraced iron ore mine around which Kiruna is built.

Tomorrow we will finish the Comprehensive Tests for the remaining payloads, and weigh the flight trains for the payloads which are ready to launch!

Hej då!

Kathryn

Rainy Day in the Arctic Circle

Hej!

Today was a long, busy day, full of exciting new tests and preparations. It was also the day we took five 'buttoned-up' payloads outside for their final comprehensive tests!

Payloads 2S (with magnetometer boom) and 2U gaze longingly outside.

Just kidding. Rain kept our payloads inside, so our final outdoor tests will take place tomorrow.

Our enthusiasm didn't die, however, and we were encouraged by the beauty of the rain clouds over the forested mountains and the promise that they would be gone tomorrow.

Nick finishing up tests on the second to last (!!!) payload.

Being inside came in handy when we went to hang test our parachute and flight train with the new Esrange terminate and communications equipment.

The indoor hang test, featuring Esrange's orange-strapped box.

We also welcomed Professor Gar Bering of the University of Houston and two of his students to our team. Their experiment will be piggybacking on a couple of our payloads! Together, we all learned how to launch a balloon from Dartmouth's Brett Anderson.

Brett and Robyn discuss the use of the "Huch Clutch".

We've finished the basic testing for five out of six payloads, as well as the BARREL NASA Flight Readiness Review, with the final payload to be completed tomorrow morning. Tomorrow afternoon will be our outdoor comprehensive tests with both BARREL and Esrange scientists. Should be an exciting day!

A GPS antenna and an Iridium antenna stare wistfully off into the fog.

Vi ses imorgon!

Kathryn

God eftermiddag från Sverige!

God eftermiddag från Sverige!
  
My name is Kathryn, an undergraduate at Dartmouth College, and I'll be your blogger for today.

Today we buttoned up another payload and are preparing for the Flight Readiness Test tomorrow.
 

Greg is hard at work testing payload 2H behind three almost-completed payloads.

Our big excitement from today was seeing a British group launch a payload on a balloon a bit larger than ours. It was inspiring to watch and gave us some extra energy for the day.

Unfortunately, rain squashed our enthusiasm. We attempted to create a 'tent fort' to protect payloads outside from the rain. Needless to say, it didn't work.

The remnants of our fort stand sadly in the rain.

Tomorrow we hope to have two payloads launch-ready running outside, using their final flight batteries and antennae to pass the last Comprehensive Test.

Yesterday's beautiful weather with two payloads — hopefully what we will see tomorrow!

We also had a huge surprise last night — JAXA, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, is packing up their 5-year-long test and heading home... and left a ton of equipment! The extra tools, tarps, and electronics are helpful, and we were all very excited about the barely-used camping equipment left behind for poor-wind days. Running on low sleep, Nick and I had a little too much fun with their painter suits, telescope domes, rubber boots, and rainbow tape.

That's all for now! Hopefully it stops raining soon...
Tills imorgon!

Kathryn