Romualdez L Javier, Benton Steven J, Brown Anthony M, Clark Paul, Damaren Christopher J, Eifler Tim, Fraisse Aurelien A, Galloway Mathew N, Gill Ajay, Hartley John W, Holder Bradley, Huff Eric M, Jauzac Mathilde, Jones William C, Lagattuta David, Leung Jason S-Y, Li Lun, Luu Thuy Vy T, Massey Richard J, McCleary Jacqueline, Mullaney James, Nagy Johanna M, Netterfield C Barth, Redmond Susan, Rhodes Jason D, Schmoll Jürgen, Shaaban Mohamed M, Sirks Ellen, Tam Sut-Ieng
Department of Physics, Princeton University, Jadwin Hall, Princeton, New Jersey 08544, USA.
Centre for Advanced Instrumentation (CfAI), Durham University, South Road, Durham DH1 3LE, United Kingdom.
Rev Sci Instrum. 2020 Mar 1;91(3):034501. doi: 10.1063/1.5139711.
At a fraction of the total cost of an equivalent orbital mission, scientific balloon-borne platforms, operating above 99.7% of the Earth's atmosphere, offer attractive, competitive, and effective observational capabilities-namely, space-like seeing, transmission, and backgrounds-which are well suited for modern astronomy and cosmology. The Super-pressure Balloon-borne Imaging Telescope (SUPERBIT) is a diffraction-limited, wide-field, 0.5 m telescope capable of exploiting these observing conditions in order to provide exquisite imaging throughout the near-infrared to near-ultraviolet. It utilizes a robust active stabilization system that has consistently demonstrated a 48 mas 1σ sky-fixed pointing stability over multiple 1 h observations at float. This is achieved by actively tracking compound pendulations via a three-axis gimballed platform, which provides sky-fixed telescope stability at < 500 mas and corrects for field rotation, while employing high-bandwidth tip/tilt optics to remove residual disturbances across the science imaging focal plane. SUPERBIT's performance during the 2019 commissioning flight benefited from a customized high-fidelity science-capable telescope designed with an exceptional thermo- and opto-mechanical stability as well as a tightly constrained static and dynamic coupling between high-rate sensors and telescope optics. At the currently demonstrated level of flight performance, SUPERBIT capabilities now surpass the science requirements for a wide variety of experiments in cosmology, astrophysics, and stellar dynamics.
科学气球搭载平台运行在地球大气层99.7%以上的高度，其成本仅为同等轨道任务总成本的一小部分，具备有吸引力、竞争力且有效的观测能力，即类似太空的视宁度、传输特性和背景条件，非常适合现代天文学和宇宙学研究。超压气球搭载成像望远镜（SUPERBIT）是一台衍射极限、宽视场、口径0.5米的望远镜，能够利用这些观测条件，在近红外到近紫外波段提供高画质成像。它采用了一个强大的主动稳定系统，在多次1小时的浮空观测中，始终展示出48毫角秒1σ的天固定指向稳定性。这是通过一个三轴常平架平台主动跟踪复合摆动来实现的，该平台在<500毫角秒的情况下提供天固定望远镜稳定性并校正场旋转，同时采用高带宽倾斜/俯仰光学器件来消除科学成像焦平面上的残余干扰。SUPERBIT在2019年调试飞行期间的性能得益于定制的高保真科学能力望远镜，该望远镜设计具有卓越的热和光机械稳定性，以及高速传感器和望远镜光学器件之间严格受限的静态和动态耦合。在目前展示的飞行性能水平上，SUPERBIT的能力现已超过宇宙学、天体物理学和恒星动力学等各种实验的科学要求。
