NASA-funded science balloons launch in Antarctica

In the bright light of Antarctica's summer sun, a NASA mission launched its first 18 science balloons between Dec. 27, 2013, and Feb. 2, 2014. BARREL, or the Balloon Array for Radiation belt Relativistic Electron Losses, plans to launch 20 balloons in total to help unravel the mysterious radiation belts, two gigantic donuts of particles that surround Earth.