By Brien Barnett
Sun staff

A test to check instruments that will be used to detect strange phenomena in the magnetosphere was launched via balloon last week.

The balloon climbed to 15,200 meter and the 31 kg MINIS payload collected and transmitted data back to a lab in Berkeley, Calif., in the first few hours after launch. However, the balloon descended rapidly and unexpectedly landed on Mount Discovery, where it lost some gear. The balloon eventually dragged its way to the top of the mountain and traveled to about 900 km west of McMurdo where it finally landed.

MINIS, an empty acronym pun based on a previous project called MAXIS, had enough battery life to last eight days, but project team member Edgar Bering III said the instrument was damaged as it was pulled up and off the mountain by the balloon.

Bering suspects the post-launch setbacks were caused by a leak in the small long duration balloon and not the scientific gear it was carrying. Bering said he thinks the instruments proved they worked, though the data will have to be analyzed.

The lessons gleaned from the flight will be incorporated in a series of planned flights in the next year or so that will hunt for high energy ìkillerî particles cycled by the earthís magnetosphere, the feature in outer space created by the earthís magnetic qualities.

Bering said the particles are interesting because they have been detected by scientific missions only a few times, but indicate a major disturbance in the magnetosphere capable of killing satellites and creating disruptions to electrical systems on the surface.

ìWe needed to fly a detector that had a high enough energy range,î said John Sample, a doctoral candidate who is working on the project.

The primary goal of the $350,000 project is to launch a series of four balloons in a row from the South African Antarctic base, SANAE, to attempt to detect the high-energy particle shower.

The researchers want to determine whether it is a one-time occurrence, like someone turning a faucet on and off, or ifs there is a constant stream of particles in a very narrow area.

Also, they would like to learn more about the properties of the particles. The information they obtain could help power companies guard their extensive grids and space agencies protect satellites and astronauts.

National Science Foundation funded research in this story: David Smith, University of California Berkeley, http://www.geophys.washington.edu/Space/SpaceExp/Balloon/Antarctica99/