A group of researchers in the Department of Physics and Astronomy has received $470,310 in funding from the NASA Astrophysics Research and Analysis (APRA) Program to collaborate on the POEMMA-Balloon with Radio (PBR) mission. 

The PBR mission aims to observe very high-energy and ultrahigh-energy cosmic ray air showers from sub-orbital space and to search for very high-energy neutrino-induced events associated with astrophysical event alerts. PBR will have fluorescence, optical, and radio detection capabilities on a super-pressure balloon payload. The launch is planned for Spring 2027 from Wanaka, New Zealand; the balloon flight could last up to 100 days.

The PBR collaboration is led by Angela Olinto at Columbia University with the NASA funding coming to the University of Iowa via a subaward from Columbia. UI Physics and Astronomy faculty and staff participating include Mary Hall Reno (UI co-principal investigator), Yasar Onel (UI co-principal investigator), Diksha Garg (postdoc), Luke Kupari (graduate student), and Michael Miller (engineer). 

The Iowa group will make several contributions to the mission. Onel and Miller will provide light sources for calibration and monitoring of the telescope during flight, while Reno, Garg, and Kupari will be part of the software and simulations team for the neutrino target of opportunity source selection and analysis.