Kavli Affiliate: Stephan S. Meyer
| First 5 Authors: James. H. Adams Jr., Denis Allard, Phillip Alldredge, Luis Anchordoqui, Anna Anzalone
| Summary:
The Extreme Universe Space Observatory on a Super Pressure Balloon 2
(EUSO-SPB2) is a pathfinder mission toward a space-based observatory such as
the Probe of Extreme Multi-Messenger Astrophysics (POEMMA). The aim of POEMMA
is the observation of Ultra High Energy COsmic Rays (UHECRs) in order to
elucidate their nature and origins and to discover $gtrsim$ 20 PeV very high
energy neutrinos that originate from transient and steady astrophysical
sources. EUSO-SPB2 was launched from W=anaka New Zealand on May 13th, 2023 as
a NASA Balloon Program Office test flight. The mission goals included making
the first near-space altitude observations of the fluorescence emission from
UHECR-induced extensive air showers (EASs) and making the first direct
Cherenkov light emission from PeV cosmic rays traversing Earth’s atmosphere. In
addition, a Target of Opportunity program was developed for selecting and
scheduling observations of potential neutrino sources as they passed just below
the Earth’s limb. Although a leaky balloon forced termination over the Pacific
Ocean after 37 hours, data was collected to demonstrate the successful
commissioning and operation of the instruments. This paper includes a
description of the payload and the key instruments, pre-flight instrument
characterizations in the lab and in the desert, flight operations and examples
of the data collected. The flight was too short to catch a UHECR event via
fluorescence, however about 10 candidate EAS events from cosmic rays were
recorded via Cherenkov light.
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