The MINIature Spectrometer (MINIS) test balloon project was an effort to understand the size, frequency and mechanisms of relativistic electron precipitation from the magnetosphere into the ionosphere. It looked for electromagnetic indications of magnetospheric waves which might be responsible for scattering relativistic electrons out of their repetitive motions in the magnetosphere and down into Earth’s atmosphere. The MINIS campaign employed 4 balloons with staggered launches in order to extend the longitudinal range over which relativistic electron precipitation is observed. The balloons were hand-launched by graduate students from the South African Antarctic station, SANAE, in January 2005.
