ARMAS Dual Monitor mission successfully launched
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA. Space Environment Technologies (SET) launched its Automated Radiation Measurements for Aerospace Safety (ARMAS) Dual Monitor (DM) payload on a World View Enterprises Stratocraft balloon on Saturday August 31, 2024 at 14:52 UT as the ARMAS 2 mission. It is flying between 16-22 km altitude (up to 72,000 ft.) across the western U.S. The purpose of the mission is to improve aviation safety by monitoring the radiation environment relevant to crew and passenger exposure from galactic cosmic rays, solar energetic particles, and Van Allen radiation belt particles.
Over the past week the vehicle with its ARMAS payload containing an ARMAS FM5 total ionizing dose detector and a gamma ray spectrometer has collected excellent data during slightly disturbed geomagnetic conditions. SET has flown two conjunction underflights of the balloon. The first was on Tuesday September 3, 2024 at 00:34 UT on UAL 566 (SFO-DEN) as it was near Green River, Wyoming. On Friday September 6, 2024, a second conjunction underflight was flown on UAL 1083 (DEN-LAX) around 22:30 UT near central Colorado. These under flights are important in that they provide a second location of measurements at the same time and same latitude/longitude, with only altitude as the variable, i.e., a useful comparison to have for physics-based modeling of the entire column of radiation for given conditions.
The mission completed its first milestone objective: on Saturday September 7 at 14:52 UT ARMAS DM completed the first continuous 24/7 monitoring of radiation above aviation altitudes for air crew and passenger safety. Milestone two is in progress: the measurements of dose that contains not only the GCR-induced component but also gamma-rays that are presumably created by incoming energetic electrons from the Van Allen radiation belts are being completed. While the ARMAS data comes in real-time via Iridium satellite link, the gamma-ray data will be collected post flight from a recorder on the payload.
The photos show the payload at launch, ascending through the atmosphere, and at 22.1 km (72,500 ft.) above Loveland Colorado on September 6, 2024 at 14:30 UT. The balloon carrying ARMAS DM even received local news coverage in Denver at https://kdvr.com/video/strange-balloon-floats-across-the-denver-metro-sky/10018666/ and in Las Vegas at https://www.8newsnow.com/news/local-news/faa-aware-of-balloon-traveling-over-las-vegas/ as well as https://www.8newsnow.com/news/local-news/researcher-explains-mission-of-strange-balloon-seen-over-las-vegas/amp/