5.8.3 Antarctic Flight
In addition to balloon launches from Svalbard, ISTAR has developed the Italian
LDB program in Antarctica from the M.Z. Station at Bay Terra Nova (named in
honor of Mario Zucchelli, late director of the Italian Antarctic Program). During
that period, ISTAR designed and fabricated the radiation shielding, passive heat
exchanger, and equipment stands for the BRAIN interferometer experiment that
was installed at the joint French-Italian Concordia Station in Antarctica to study
the cosmic microwave background.
5.8.4 Sisters Eagle Airport Campaign
During the summer and fall of 2019, ISTAR carried out a campaign of balloon
launches from the Sisters Eagle Airport in Oregon with a science team from
the University of Washington, Space and Earth Sciences led by Research
Associate Professor Michael McCarthy. The objective of the five balloon campaign was to measure electric currents flowing between the ground and the
upper atmosphere.
Fig. 5.16 Steven Peterzen ready to launch the Sounding Radar (SORA) from Svalbard,
Norway in 2009. Photo courtesy of Steven Peterzen
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