The ambitious and innovative ANITA detector is designed to be the first device to identify high energy neutrinos created by collisions between cosmic rays and the the cosmic microwave photons that pervade the Universe.

This source of neutrinos creates the unprecedented opportunity to study the laws of physics at the energy frontier. At these energies, neutrino collisions with matter could produce micro-black holes, or other exotic manifestations of theories that attempt to unify all forces of Nature.

The balloon-borne payload will circle the continent of Antartica at ~35,000 meters, scanning the vast expanses of ice for telltale pulses of radio emission generated by the neutrino collisions.