The helicopter was flying high in the night sky with the door slightly open. Johannes Ethel and Matthew Rodenkar were lasering through the gaps in the rear. They fired at the balloon 35 kilometers above.
It sounds like a scene from a spy movie, but Ethel and Rodencal, then students at the Colorado School of Mining, planned to discover ultra-high-energy cosmic rays, the most energetic particles ever discovered. was actually tested. They flow across space and then collide into our atmosphere, giving off tiny flashes of light. The laser was supposed to mimic that flash.
This twilight helicopter flight took place nearly a decade ago, but is part of a story that dates back to at least 1991. In October of that year he detected one of the most energetic particles ever observed. The kinetic energy of a bowling ball dropped from shoulder height was packed into a subatomic package. It soon became known as the “Oh My God Particle,” and naturally scientists wanted to know where it came from.
Since then, we have found many similar particles. Massive ground-based detectors have provided us with a map of where they came from and a candidate list of extreme cosmic objects that could produce them. But the truth is, we don’t have all the answers yet. So scientists now want to conduct cosmic ray tracing into the atmosphere and eventually into space to fully solve the mystery.
This story began in 1911 with another balloon. At that time, physicist Victor Hess climbed into the balloon.
