Photo credit: Nahee Park. The balloon, carrying Indiana University's Cosmic Ray Electron Synchrotron Telescope (CREST), was launched on December 25, 2011.Dr. Nahee Park travelled to Sweden for yet another exciting experiment, supporting the launch of a balloon that will carry a cosmic ray detector to the upper limits of the atmosphere, nearly 40 kilometres above the ground. The HELIX experiment, led by the University of Chicago and developed in collaboration with other universities in the US, Japan, and Canada, including Queen’s, will inflate a helium balloon of approximately 40 million cubic feet – a football field could fit inside it! – to lift a one tonne detector measuring 1.6m x 1.6m x 2.3m. After launch from the Esrange Space Center, the balloon is expected to fly from five to seven days over the Atlantic Ocean before landing in Canada.
Learn more in the Queen's Gazette
Update
June 12, 2024
Successful flight for HELIX