From SuperBIT to GigaBIT: Informing next-generation balloon-borne telescope design with Fine Guidance System flight data
Abstract
The Super-pressure Balloon-borne Imaging Telescope (SuperBIT) is a near-diffraction-limited 0.5m telescope that launched via NASA's super-pressure balloon technology on April 16, 2023. SuperBIT achieved precise pointing control through the use of three nested frames in conjunction with an optical Fine Guidance System (FGS), resulting in an average image stability of 0.055" over 300-second exposures. The SuperBIT FGS includes a tip-tilt fast-steering mirror that corrects for jitter on a pair of focal plane star cameras. In this paper, we leverage the empirical data from SuperBIT's successful 45-night stratospheric mission to inform the FGS design for the next-generation balloon-borne telescope. The Gigapixel Balloon-borne Imaging Telescope (GigaBIT) is designed to be a 1.35m wide-field, high resolution imaging telescope, with specifications to extend the scale and capabilities beyond those of its predecessor SuperBIT. A description and analysis of the SuperBIT FGS will be presented along with methodologies for extrapolating this data to enhance GigaBIT's FGS design and fine pointing control algorithm. We employ a systems engineering approach to outline and formalize the design constraints and specifications for GigaBIT's FGS. GigaBIT, building on the SuperBIT legacy, is set to enhance high-resolution astronomical imaging, marking a significant advancement in the field of balloon-borne telescopes.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2407.10103,
title = {From SuperBIT to GigaBIT: Informing next-generation balloon-borne telescope design with Fine Guidance System flight data},
author = {Philippe Voyer and Steven J. Benton and Christopher J. Damaren and Spencer W. Everett and Aurelien A. Fraisse and Ajay S. Gill and John W. Hartley and David Harvey and Michael Henderson and Bradley Holder and Eric M. Huff and Mathilde Jauzac and William C. Jones and David Lagattuta and Jason S. -Y. Leung and Lun Li and Thuy Vy T. Luu and Richard Massey and Jacqueline E. McCleary and Johanna M. Nagy and C. Barth Netterfield and Emaad Paracha and Susan F. Redmond and Jason D. Rhodes and Andrew Robertson and L. Javier Romualdez and Jürgen Schmoll and Mohamed M. Shaaban and Ellen L. Sirks and Georgios N. Vassilakis and André Z. Vitorelli},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2407.10103},
year = {2024}
}
Comments
13 pages, 7 figures, SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation 2024