200 Gigabytes of SuperBIT Dark Matter Data Saved by Parachute

Researchers nearly lost the data collected by the Super Pressure Balloon Imaging Telescope (SuperBIT). Thankfully, they had a recovery system to retrieve over 200 gigabytes of SuperBIT data.

SuperBIT Data Recovered

The Super Pressure Balloon Imaging Telescope (SuperBIT) is a balloon-based telescope launched in April near Wānaka, New Zealand. The researchers aim to photograph colliding galaxies and collect data on the distribution of dark matter. Before returning to Earth, SuperBIT spent 40 days gathering data while hovering at the atmosphere's edge. However, the balloon sustained severe damage upon landing.

Fortunately, they have two data recovery systems that had previously parachuted down to Argentina's Patagonia region earlier in the day, saving over 200 terabytes of SuperBIT observations.

Reliable data retrieval is one of the issues faced by balloon-based telescopes. These telescopes typically send data to neighboring satellites or ground stations.

SuperBIT achieved this with SpaceX's Starlink satellites. However, the telescope collected excessive data to be sent nonstop during the journey.

Massey likened the process to streaming Netflix from the edge of space, where they lost the "streaming" two weeks into the mission due to an unstable connection.

Fortunately, in addition to the telescope's primary hard disks and the satellite link, the crew had also developed a physical backup mechanism, which was dropped from the sky via a parachute.

"It sort of hearkens back to the 1960s and spy satellites," said Richard Massey, a professor of physics at Durham University in England, noting that instead of scientific data on SD cards, satellites dropped surveillance footage in film cassettes.

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Recover System Used Explained

The data-retrieval system that saved the data is made of ordinary materials, according to Ellen Sirks, a research associate at the University of Sydney, who began working on SuperBIT as a doctoral student of Massey.

A Raspberry Pi small computer and an SD card with five terabytes of storage are used for the electronics. They attached it to the telescope with mechanical pincers used by professional archers. They opted for it because they can bear tremendous tension.

The storage device is connected to the telescope's onboard computer via Ethernet to transfer data continually. Sirk says, "the simplest things are sometimes the best solutions."

The Raspberry Pi receives a notification from the astronomers to start the release process when they're ready. It slides off the telescope and begins its descent 30 seconds later. The Pi descends to Earth by gliding as a parachute, which opens to slow its descent.

The balloon-based method allowed the researchers to refine their data-recovery technology and make design iterations at a lower cost than sending a telescope into orbit. Therefore, some features have altered over the evolution of the data-recovery system, but the overall concept has remained constant.