A scientific balloon has been launched from the Australian Balloon Launching Station to evaluate high-energy gamma rays being emitted by the Vela Pulsar neutron star.
Planned to travel from Alice Springs to Queensland, the research balloon is carrying 800kg equipment on-board.
Vela Pulsar is a collapsed star located 1,000 light years away from Earth, and makes around 11 rotations a second.
As the pulsar spins, it emits charged particles that race out along its rotation axis at around 70% of the speed of light, Nasa said.
Australian Balloon Launching Station director Dr Ravi Sood was quoted by ABC as saying: "This experiment is trying to measure energies and arrival time of the gamma rays.
"It is a designed to measure gamma rays, high-energy gamma rays, coming from very exotic objects in our galaxy."
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By GlobalDataThe project is collaboration between Nagoya University and Kobe University in Japan. The balloon launch from Alice Springs comes after a Nasa-sponsored balloon crashed on take-off in 2010.
The balloon will reach Longreach in Queensland by today evening, and will be transported to Sydney for analysis.
Sood added: "This is the first flight in four years, but next year, there may be a campaign involving the French space agency."
Image: The Vela Pulsar makes more than 11 rotations a second. Photo: courtesy of Nasa / CXC / Univ of Toronto / M.Durant et al / DSS / Davide De Martin.
