Skip to main content

Advertisement

Log in

The EUSO-Balloon pathfinder

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Experimental Astronomy Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

EUSO-Balloon is a pathfinder for JEM-EUSO, the Extreme Universe Space Observatory which is to be hosted on-board the International Space Station. As JEM-EUSO is designed to observe Ultra-High Energy Cosmic Rays (UHECR)-induced Extensive Air Showers (EAS) by detecting their ultraviolet light tracks “from above”, EUSO-Balloon is a nadir-pointing UV telescope too. With its Fresnel Optics and Photo-Detector Module, the instrument monitors a 50 km2 ground surface area in a wavelength band of 290–430 nm, collecting series of images at a rate of 400,000 frames/sec. The objectives of the balloon demonstrator are threefold: a) perform a full end-to-end test of a JEM-EUSO prototype consisting of all the main subsystems of the space experiment, b) measure the effective terrestrial UV background, with a spatial and temporal resolution relevant for JEM-EUSO. c) detect tracks of ultraviolet light from near space for the first time. The latter is a milestone in the development of UHECR science, paving the way for any future space-based UHECR observatory. On August 25, 2014, EUSO-Balloon was launched from Timmins Stratospheric Balloon Base (Ontario, Canada) by the balloon division of the French Space Agency CNES. From a float altitude of 38 km, the instrument operated during the entire astronomical night, observing UV-light from a variety of ground-covers and from hundreds of simulated EASs, produced by flashers and a laser during a two-hour helicopter under-flight.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Adams, J.H. et al. (The JEM-EUSO Collaboration): The JEM-EUSO mission, this volume

  2. Adams, J.H. et al. (The JEM-EUSO Collaboration): Ultra High Energy Cosmic Rays studies with the JEM-EUSO mission, this volume

  3. Adams, J.H. et al. (The JEM-EUSO Collaboration): Ultra High Energy Photons and Neutrinos with JEM-EUSO, this volume

  4. Adams, J.H. et al. (The JEM-EUSO Collaboration): An overview of the JEM-EUSO instrument, this volume

  5. The Pierre Auger Collaboration: Measurement of the energy spectrum of cosmic rays above 1018 eV using the Pierre Auger Observatory. Phys. Lett. B 685, 239–246 (2010)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  6. Fukushima, M.: for the Telescope Array Collaboration: Proc. ISVHECRI-2014 symposium at CERN, arXiv: 1503.06961, Recent Results from Telescope Array (2015)

  7. Bertaina, M., et al.: Proc. 34th ICRC, Preliminary results from the EUSO-Balloon flight (2015)

  8. Eser, J., et al.: Proc. 33rd ICRC. Laser direction reconstruction in EUSO-Balloon experiment (2015)

  9. Mackovjak, S., et al.: Proc. 34th ICRC. Night time measurement of the UV background by EUSO-Balloon (2015)

  10. Jung, J., et al.: Proc. 34th ICRC. Search for significant background fluctuations in the EUSO-Balloon data (2015)

  11. Suino, G., et al.: Proc. 34th ICRC. Tests of JEM-EUSO 1st level trigger using EUSO-Balloon data (2015)

  12. Adams, J., et al.: Proc. 34th ICRC. The Calibration of EUSO-Balloon using airborne light sources mounted to a Helicopter (2015)

  13. Panico, B., et al.: Proc. 34th ICRC. Analysis of EUSO-Balloon data with Offline (2015)

  14. Saez, G., et al.: Proc. 34th ICRC. Cloud Optical Depth obtained from the IR Camera data and the UV Flashers flying under the EUSO-Balloon (CNES) (2015)

  15. Merino, A., et al.: Proc. 34th ICRC. Cloud top height estimation from WRF model: application to the infrared camera onboard EUSO-Balloon (CNES) (2015)

  16. Tabone, I., et al.: Proc. 34th ICRC. The WRF model contribution to the atmospheric conditions estimation during the EUSO-Balloon experiment (2015)

  17. Catalano, O., et al.: The atmospheric nightglow in the 300–400 nm wavelength: results by the balloon-borne experiment BABY. Nucl. Inst. Methods A 480, 547–554 (2002)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  18. Barbier, M., et al.: NIGHTGLOW: An instrument to measure the Earth’s nighttime ultraviolet glow—results from the first engineering flight. Astropart. Phys. 22, 439–449 (2005)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  19. Garipov, G.K., et al.: UV radiation from the atmosphere: results of the MSU Tatiana satellite measurements. Astropart. Phys. 24, 400–408 (2005)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  20. Mernik, T., et al.: Proc. 33rd ICRC (ID777). ESAF-Simulation of the EUSO-Balloon (2013)

  21. Ahmad, S., et al.: Proc. 33rd ICRC (ID1089). Performance of the SPACIROC front-end ASIC for JEM-EUSO (2013)

  22. Blaksley, C., et al.: Proc. 34th ICRC. A Cockcroft-Walton High-Voltage Power Supply for the EUSO Instruments (2015)

  23. Rabanal, J., et al.: Proc. 34th ICRC. Photoelectron counting rate measurements in the UV camera during the EUSO-BALLOON night flight (2015)

  24. Dagoret, S., et al.: Proc. 34th ICRC. Determination of the sensitivity and detection performances of the UV camera pixels of the EUSO-BALLOON instrument (2015)

  25. Moretto, C., et al.: Proc. 34th ICRC. Absolute calibration of the photon detector module of the EUSO-Balloon experiment and improvements for future missions (2015)

  26. Osteria, G. et al.: Proc. 34th ICRC. The Data Processor System of EUSO-Balloon: in flight performance (2015)

  27. Takizawa, Y., Zuccaro, A.: Proc. 33rd ICRC (ID832). The TA-EUSO and EUSO-Balloon optics designs (2013)

  28. Takizawa, Y., et al.: Proc. 33rd ICRC (ID1040). Manufacturing of the TA-EUSO and the EUSO-Balloon lenses (2013)

  29. Catalano, C. et al.: Proc. 34th ICRC. Performance of the EUSO-Balloon optics (2015)

  30. Morales, J.A., et al.: Proc. 33rd ICRC (ID514). An end to end simulation code for the IR-Camera of the JEM-EUSO Space Observatory (2013)

  31. Rodriguez Firas, M.D., et al.: Proc. 34th ICRC. The Spanish Infrared Camera onboard the EUSO-Balloon (CNES) flight on August 24, 2015 (2015)

  32. Fernandez, J., et al.: Proc. 34th ICRC. Performances of the Spanish Infrared Camera onboard the EUSO-Balloon (CNES) flight on August 24, 2014 (2015)

  33. Wiencke, L., et al.: Proc. 34th ICRC. EUSO-Balloon mission to record extensive air showers from near space (2015)

  34. Fenu, F., et al.: Proc. 34th ICRC. The simulation of cosmic rays in EUSO-Balloon: performance in the direction and energy reconstruction (2015)

  35. Bacholle, S., et al.: Proc. 34th ICRC. EUSO-Balloon trigger efficiency in preparation of a long duration flight (2015)

Download references

Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge strong support from the French Space Agency CNES who provided—besides funding—the leadership that made this achievement possible in a very short time. We are indebted to the balloon division of CNES for a perfect launch, smooth flight operation and flawless telemetry. The Canadian Space Agency has provided outstanding facilities at the Timmins Stratospheric Balloon Base, and a quick and careful recovery of the instrument. We would like to thank our laboratories and the entire JEM-EUSO collaboration for their strong and undivided support all along this project.

This work was partially supported by Basic Science Interdisciplinary Research Projects of RIKEN and JSPS KAKENHI Grant (22340063, 23340081, and 24244042), by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation by the ‘Helmholtz Alliance for Astroparticle Physics HAP’ funded by the Initiative and Networking Fund of the Helmholtz Association, Germany, and by Slovak Academy of Sciences MVTS JEM-EUSO as well as VEGA grant agency project 2/0076/13. The Spanish consortium involved in the JEM-EUSO Space Mission is funded by MICINN under projects AYA2009- 06037-E/ESP, AYA-ESP 2010-19082, AYA2011-29489-C03- 01, AYA2012-39115-C03-01, CSD2009-00064 (Consolider MULTIDARK) and by Comunidad de Madrid (CAM) under project S2009/ESP-1496.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Consortia

Corresponding author

Correspondence to P. von Ballmoos.

Additional information

The JEM-EUSO Collaboration

For the full author list see the last page of this article.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

The JEM-EUSO Collaboration., Adams, J.H., Ahmad, S. et al. The EUSO-Balloon pathfinder. Exp Astron 40, 281–299 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10686-015-9467-9

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10686-015-9467-9

Keywords

Navigation