EUSO-SPB To Detect Cosmic Rays From Above By Looking Down

Ultra-High Energy Cosmic Rays (UHECRs) from the farthest reaches of space are extremely rare, entering the Earth’s atmosphere at a rate of just one per one square-kilometer of area per century. To unravel the mysteries associated with these cosmic rays, enter NASA’s super pressure balloon and the pioneering Extreme Universe Space Observatory (EUSO) instrument. Learn more from Principal Investigator Angela Olinto about how EUSO, flying 110,000 feet (33.5 kilometers) above the ground on a balloon, will look downward to detect these high-energy cosmic rays by observing fleeting moments of UV fluorescence over a broad swathe of the Earth’s atmosphere. (NASA/Bill Rodman)