The Payload for Ultrahigh Energy Observations (PUEO) is a NASA Astrophysics Pioneers Program mission designed to detect the most energetic particles in the universe. The PUEO mission flew high above Antarctica on a Long Duration Balloon (LDB) and used the Antarctic ice sheet as an enormous detection volume to look for radio signals generated by the interactions of extremely energetic astrophysical neutrinos as they passed through the ice. In addition to searching for the highest energy neutrinos, PUEO could also detect radio signals from high energy cosmic rays showering in Earth’s atmosphere (a.k.a. air showers), either as the signals entered directly into the instrument or reflected off the ice below. The sensitivity achieved with the PUEO instrument was a result of technology advancements and careful optimization of the experimental design to enable accommodation within the balloon platform’s launch volume.
超高能观测有效载荷（PUEO）是美国宇航局天体物理学先锋计划的一项任务，旨在探测宇宙中最高能的粒子。 PUEO 任务乘坐长时气球 (LDB) 在南极洲上空飞行，并利用南极冰盖作为巨大的探测空间，寻找高能天体物理中微子穿过冰层时相互作用产生的无线电信号。除了寻找最高能量的中微子之外，PUEO 还可以探测来自地球大气层中高能宇宙射线（又名空气阵雨）的无线电信号，这些信号要么直接进入仪器，要么从下面的冰反射回来。 PUEO 仪器所达到的灵敏度是技术进步和实验设计仔细优化的结果，以便能够适应气球平台的发射体积。
The ultra-high energy neutrinos that PUEO was searching for carry information from the most extreme places in the universe, including supermassive black holes that accrete matter at the centers of galaxies, neutron star mergers, and other powerful cosmic accelerators. Because these particles travel large distances along straight lines without being absorbed, they provide a unique view of the distant, most energetic universe. Not only will data collected by PUEO reveal the origin and composition of the highest-energy cosmic rays, it will also test fundamental physics at energies far beyond those achievable in human-made particle accelerators on Earth.
PUEO正在寻找的超高能中微子携带着来自宇宙最极端地方的信息，包括在星系中心吸积物质的超大质量黑洞、中子星合并和其他强大的宇宙加速器。由于这些粒子沿着直线行进很长的距离而不被吸收，因此它们提供了遥远、最具活力的宇宙的独特视角。 PUEO收集的数据不仅将揭示最高能量宇宙射线的起源和成分，还将以远远超出地球上人造粒子加速器所能达到的能量来测试基础物理。
The PUEO mission built on heritage from the NASA-sponsored Antarctic Impulsive Transient Antenna (ANITA) mission , which had four successful flights from 2006-2016. Like ANITA, PUEO consisted of an array of radio-frequency antennas, an onboard data acquisition system that is triggered by neutrino-like signals and processes and saves the data, and a navigation and command and control system. From its 120,000-foot altitude, PUEO monitored an extremely large volume of Antarctic ice, looking for signals from very rare, high-energy neutrino interactions.
PUEO 任务建立在 NASA 赞助的南极脉冲瞬态天线 (ANITA) 任务的基础上，该任务在 2006 年至 2016 年期间进行了四次成功飞行。与 ANITA 一样，PUEO 也由射频天线阵列、由类中微子信号触发并处理和保存数据的机载数据采集系统以及导航和指挥控制系统组成。 PUEO 在 120,000 英尺的高度上监测了大量的南极冰层，寻找来自非常罕见的高能中微子相互作用的信号。
The first of NASA’s Astrophysics Pioneers missions to launch, PUEO took off Dec. 20, 2025, from NASA’s Long Duration Balloon Facility near McMurdo Station, Antarctica, and flew for 23 days before landing approximately 120 miles (200 km) from the South Pole. The full payload has been recovered, including the data drives. The PUEO team is currently analyzing the data collected—an undertaking that may take up to a year due to the complex nature of the task.
PUEO 是 NASA 首次发射的天体物理学先锋任务，于 2025 年 12 月 20 日从南极洲麦克默多站附近的 NASA 长时气球设施起飞，飞行了 23 天，然后在距离南极约 120 英里（200 公里）的地方着陆。完整的有效负载已恢复，包括数据驱动器。 PUEO 团队目前正在分析收集到的数据，由于任务的复杂性，这项工作可能需要长达一年的时间。
The significant improvement in sensitivity achieved with the PUEO instrument compared to that of ANITA was due to a variety of technology advancements and careful optimization of the experimental design to enable accommodation within the balloon platform’s constrained launch volume.
与 ANITA 相比，PUEO 仪器的灵敏度显着提高，这要归功于各种技术进步和实验设计的仔细优化，以适应气球平台有限的发射体积。
At the heart of PUEO’s technology advancement was a new type of trigger called an interferometric phased array trigger. The PUEO trigger coherently summed signals from multiple antennas in real time, enabling the instrument to detect weaker signals than previously possible. By lowering the trigger threshold, PUEO could dig further into the noise, and find weaker neutrino and cosmic-ray signals than previous experiments.
PUEO 技术进步的核心是一种称为干涉相控阵触发器的新型触发器。 PUEO 触发实时相干地求和来自多个天线的信号，使仪器能够检测到比以前更弱的信号。通过降低触发阈值，PUEO 可以进一步挖掘噪声，并发现比以前的实验更弱的中微子和宇宙射线信号。
The PUEO antenna collecting area for frequencies above 300 MHz was doubled compared to ANITA, improving the sensitivity to radio emission from particle interactions. To ensure the PUEO payload remained within the allowable launch volume, the team increased the low-frequency cutoff of the PUEO antennas, which enabled them to be even smaller than those used on ANITA.
与 ANITA 相比，PUEO 天线收集 300 MHz 以上频率的面积增加了一倍，提高了对粒子相互作用产生的无线电发射的灵敏度。为了确保 PUEO 有效载荷保持在允许的发射体积内，团队增加了 PUEO 天线的低频截止，这使得它们比 ANITA 上使用的天线更小。
To improve sensitivity to extensive air showers produced by cosmic rays and potentially neutrinos, PUEO incorporated a new low-frequency instrument that deployed once the payload reached float altitude (it would have been much too large to fit in the allowable launch volume in its flight configuration). This new low-frequency instrument incorporated antennas that are sensitive down to 50 MHz, and extended PUEOs sensitivity to air showers.
为了提高对宇宙射线和潜在中微子产生的大量空气簇射的灵敏度，PUEO 采用了一种新的低频仪器，一旦有效载荷达到浮动高度（它太大而无法适应其飞行配置中允许的发射体积），该仪器就会部署。这种新型低频仪器采用了灵敏度低至 50 MHz 的天线，并扩展了 PUEO 对空气簇射的灵敏度。
Many of the technology advancements that were developed for PUEO may also be applicable for mission concepts under development that would use the lunar regolith as a detector for ultra-high energy cosmic rays, and other potential future radio missions on the moon.
为 PUEO 开发的许多技术进步也可能适用于正在开发的任务概念，即使用月球风化层作为超高能宇宙射线探测器，以及月球上其他潜在的未来无线电任务。
Project Lead: Dr. Abigail Vieregg, David N. Schramm Director of the Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics and professor of Physics, Astronomy & Astrophysics, and the Enrico Fermi Institute, University of Chicago, assisted by graduate student, Rachel Scrandis
项目负责人：Abigail Vieregg 博士、David N. Schramm 芝加哥大学 Kavli 宇宙物理研究所所长、物理学、天文学和天体物理学教授以及 Enrico Fermi 研究所教授，研究生 Rachel Scrandis 协助
Sponsoring Organization(s): NASA Astrophysics Division Pioneers Program
赞助组织：NASA 天体物理学部先锋计划