Brown Physics was well-represented in Fort Sumner, New Mexico, this summer as Prof. Greg Tucker and Ph.D. students Kanchita (Khing) Klangboonkrong and Annalies Kleyheeg watched the successful launch of NASA’s EXCITE (EXoplanet Climate Infrared TElescope) long-duration balloon (LBD) mission at 9:22 a.m. EDT on Saturday, Aug. 31. According to Prof. Tucker, NASA must fly a North American test flight before flyings LBD missions. He says, “One of the goals of the NASA balloon program is to demonstrate technology for future satellites.  While EXCITE cannot accomplish its science goals from North America, it demonstrated new technology in a near-space environment in this flight.”

Ph.D. student Tim Rehm, a student in Prof. Tucker’s lab, and former students Kyle Helson, an EXCITE team member and research scientist at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County and NASA Goddard, and Peter Nagler, the mission’s principal investigator at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland rounded out the Brown presence on the mission.

Read the full story about Prof. Tucker and his students at NASA.gov.

Read more about the EXCITE Mission.