Long duration balloon flights from Esrange Space Center carrying instruments for Astrophysics and Cosmic Ray

Abstract

1. Abstract Esrange Space Center located in northern Sweden has during 45 years been a leading launch site for both sounding rockets and stratospheric balloons. We have a unique combination of maintaining both stratospheric balloons and sounding rockets launch operations. Most balloon flights are normally handled inside Scandinavia but since 2005 semicircular flights are performed with recovery in northern Canada. The Swedish and Russian Governments have signed an agreement for peaceful exploration of space on 9 March 2010, which will permit circumpolar balloon flights. Within this agreement we are able to offer the science community long duration balloon flights in the Northern Hemisphere with durations for several weeks. The balloon operations at Esrange Space Center are yearly expanding. Both NASA and CNES have long term plans for balloon flights from northern Sweden. We have also received requests from Japanese Universities and JAXA for future balloon missions. To handle balloon campaigns with large numbers of payloads or build up for two different campaigns a new big assembly hall was ready for use in April 2011. In total 10 payloads have been flying for 4 to 5 days from Esrange westwards with landing in northern Canada since 2005. The SUNRISE balloon borne solar telescope is one example which made in June 2009 a more than 4 days semicircular balloon flight from Esrange. The Sunrise project is a collaborative project between the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research in Katlenburg-Lindau and partners in Germany, Spain and the USA. The first circumpolar flight will take place in the second half of June 2012 with the PoGOLite balloon borne telescope studying the polarisation of gamma-rays from pulsars and will be recovered in Scandinavia after 12-15 days. The PoGoLite project is a collaborative project between Swedish, French, Japanese and US scientific teams.