instrument.jpg

The BESS instrument undergoes some final adjustments in a balloon hangar at Lynn Lake, Canada, before the launch.

The BESS project (Balloon-borne Experiment with a Superconducting Solenoidal magnet), led by Prof. Shuji Orito at the University of Tokyo, has collected hundreds of antiprotons during annual one-day flights above 99.5 percent of the atmosphere with a helium-filled balloon.  Each year the 2250-kg (5,000 lb.) instrument is retrieved and improved.  And each year, since 1993, the search continues for the ever-elusive antimatter.


photo credit:  The BESS collaboration