As the sensitivity of CMB telescopes increases, the need for precise calibration becomes critical. Started in 2022, the COSMOCal project aims to place an artificial polarized source in geostationary orbit, which will serve as a reference for CMB telescopes. This source will emit at 90, 150 and 270 GHz and will be linearly polarized with a highly precise orientation smaller than 0.1 deg. This proceeding presents the scientific motivations for the project, the current status of the development of the instrument and the results of a calibration campaign performed in March 2026 at the Institut d'Astrophysique Spatiale.
@article{arxiv.2605.01057,
title = {Status of the COSmological Microwave Observations CALibrator},
author = {L. Mousset and J. Aumont and S. Berta and L. Bizzarri and F. Boulanger and A. Catalano and F. Cuttaia and A. Denis and A. -L. Fontana and D. González Ovejero and B. Kalemi and S. Leclercq and J. -F. Macías-Pérez and B. Maffei and T. Mcnamara and S. Micheli and M. Migliaccio and L. Montier and P. Morfin and M. Moulin and M. Murgia and I. Myserlis and F. Nati and P. Ortu and M. Pérault and G. Pisano and T. Pisanu and N. Ponthieu and A. Ritacco and S. Savorgnano and L. Terenzi and L. Thibaut and J. Treuttel and C. Vescovi and L. Vacher and M. Zannoni},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2605.01057},
year = {2026}
}
Comments
4 pages, 2 figures, contribution to the 2026 Cosmology session of the 60th Rencontres de Moriond