Robyn Millan arrived in Antarctica on Nov. 19, 2010 to launch test balloons for the BARREL project.
Robyn Millan, seen here with emperor penguins in the background, arrived in Antarctica on Nov. 19, 2010 to launch test balloons for the BARREL project. Image Credit: Henry Cathey
A professor at Dartmouth College, Millan is the principal investigator for the BARREL project, or Balloon Array for RBSP Relativistic Electron Losses. With the successful test, Millan proposed launches in 2013 and 2014 of 20 such balloons to float in the circular wind patterns above the South Pole. Each balloon will help track electrons from space that get swept up in Earth’s magnetic field and slide down into our atmosphere. Such electrons are an integral part of the turbulent magnetic space weather system that extends from the sun to Earth.