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POEMMA-Balloon with Radio: A multi-messenger, multi-detector balloon payload
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

POEMMA-Balloon with Radio: A multi-messenger, multi-detector balloon payload

J Adams, J Alfaro, D Allard, P Alldredge, R Aloisio, R Ammendola, A Anastasio, L Anchordoqui, D Badoni, J Baláž, …
Journal of cosmology and astroparticle physics, Vol.2026(7), 001
07/01/2026
DOI: 10.1088/1475-7516/2026/07/001
url
https://doi.org/10.1088/1475-7516/2026/07/001View
Published (Version of record) Open Access

Abstract

A review of the current status of the field of Ultra-High-Energy Cosmic Ray (UHECR) including a summary of remaining open questions was presented in the white paper “Ultra-High Energy Cosmic Rays: at the Intersection of the Cosmic and Energy Frontiers” (Astropart. Phys. 147 (2023) 102794; 2205.05845). The authors concluded that two types of next-generation detectors are needed to answer these questions: high-accuracy instruments and detectors that maximize exposure at the highest energies. The Probe Of Extreme Multi-Messenger Astrophysics (POEMMA), a proposed dual-satellite observatory, exemplifies the latter class and is designed to increase statistics of the highest-energy cosmic rays and to detect very-high-energy neutrinos following multi-messenger alerts. POEMMA-Balloon with Radio (PBR) implements a compact, balloon-borne version of the POEMMA concept, adapted for a Super-Pressure Balloon flight from Wanaka, New Zealand, with an expected campaign exceeding 20 days. PBR couples a wide field-of-view Schmidt telescope and a hybrid optical focal surface with a dedicated radio instrument to deliver simultaneous, complementary measurements of extensive air showers. The mission will validate the fluorescence detection strategy from space and raise technology readiness for a POEMMA-like space mission by observing UHECR-induced fluorescence light from suborbital altitudes, obtaining the first simultaneous optical Cherenkov and radio observations of high-altitude horizontal air showers above the cosmic-ray knee (E > 3 PeV), enabling energy-spectrum and composition studies at the PeV scale, and performing follow-ups of multi-messenger alerts to search for very-high-energy neutrinos via upward-going air showers. This paper summarizes the PBR payload and its expected performance.
 Fluorescence Balloon flight Cosmic ray showers Cosmic rays Detectors Energy Field of view High altitude High energy astronomy Neutrinos Radio observation Satellite observation Schmidt telescopes Space missions Superpressure balloons

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