NASA's GRIPS balloon team arrives in Antarctica
Wednesday, November 4, 2015 - 07:30
in Astronomy & Space
Members of the GRIPS balloon team began arriving at McMurdo Station in Antarctica in late October 2015. GRIPS, short for Gamma-Ray Imager/Polarimeter for Solar flares, is an instrument that studies the extremely high-energy particles released by solar flares, information that will help scientists pinpoint the processes which set off these explosive events. GRIPS will launch this December, suspended underneath a football-field-sized balloon, and will circle above the frozen Antarctic for several weeks.