  BFORE is a high-altitude ultra-long-duration balloon mission to map the
cosmic microwave background (CMB). During a 28-day mid-latitude flight launched
from Wanaka, New Zealand, the instrument will map half the sky to improve
measurements of the optical depth to reionization tau. This will break
parameter degeneracies needed to detect neutrino mass. BFORE will also hunt for
the gravitational wave B-mode signal, and map Galactic dust foregrounds. The
mission will be the first near-space use of TES/mSQUID multichroic detectors
(150/217 GHz and 280/353 GHz bands) with low-power readout electronics.
