학술논문
The Balloon-Borne Large Aperture Submillimeter Telescope Observatory
Document Type
Working Paper
Author
Lowe, Ian; Coppi, Gabriele; Ade, Peter A. R.; Ashton, Peter C.; Austermann, Jason E.; Beall, James; Clark, Susan; Cox, Erin G.; Devlin, Mark J.; Dicker, Simon; Dober, Bradley J.; Fanfani, Valentina; Fissel, Laura M.; Galitzki, Nicholas; Gao, Jiansong; Hensley, Brandon; Hubmayr, Johannes; Li, Steven; Li, Zhi-Yun; Lourie, Nathan P.; Martin, Peter G.; Mauskopf, Philip; Nati, Federico; Novak, Giles; Pisano, Giampaolo; Romualdez, L. Javier; Sinclair, Adrian; Soler, Juan D.; Tucker, Carole; Vissers, Michael; Wheeler, Jordan; Williams, Paul A.; Zannoni, Mario
Source
Subject
Language
Abstract
The BLAST Observatory is a proposed superpressure balloon-borne polarimeter designed for a future ultra-long duration balloon campaign from Wanaka, New Zealand. To maximize scientific output while staying within the stringent superpressure weight envelope, BLAST will feature new 1.8m off-axis optical system contained within a lightweight monocoque structure gondola. The payload will incorporate a 300L $^4$He cryogenic receiver which will cool 8,274 microwave kinetic inductance detectors (MKIDs) to 100mK through the use of an adiabatic demagnetization refrigerator (ADR) in combination with a $^3$He sorption refrigerator all backed by a liquid helium pumped pot operating at 2K. The detector readout utilizes a new Xilinx RFSOC-based system which will run the next-generation of the BLAST-TNG KIDPy software. With this instrument we aim to answer outstanding questions about dust dynamics as well as provide community access to the polarized submillimeter sky made possible by high-altitude observing unrestricted by atmospheric transmission. The BLAST Observatory is designed for a minimum 31-day flight of which 70$\%$ will be dedicated to observations for BLAST scientific goals and the remaining 30$\%$ will be open to proposals from the wider astronomical community through a shared-risk proposals program.
Comment: Presented at SPIE Ground-based and Airborne Telescopes VIII, December 13-18, 2020
Comment: Presented at SPIE Ground-based and Airborne Telescopes VIII, December 13-18, 2020