Séparateur pyrotechnique (SEPP) au sommet de la chaîne de vol

Pyrotechnic separation device at the top of the flight assembly (triple-parachute top section), awaiting installation in the envelope gondola as part of the preparations for the PILOT, CLIMAT and CARMEN/CASOLBA missions, at the Alice Springs balloon launch base in Australia. The flight assembly generally consists of the gondola and its payload of scientific instruments, but also a radar transponder, parachutes to enable a controlled landing during the balloon's post-mission descent, and a small auxiliary balloon from which the gondola is suspended pending lift-off. Measurements are more economical and simpler to perform using stratospheric balloons than using satellites. Balloons are able to gather data that would be impossible to collect using ground-based telescopes, as the Earth's atmosphere partially blocks cosmic radiation.