Related papers: The Next Generation BLAST Experiment
Measurements of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) allow high precision observation of the cosmic plasma at redshift z~1100. After the success of the NASA satellite COBE, that in 1992 provided the first detection of the CMB anisotropy,…
POLAR is a novel compact Compton X-ray polarimeter designed to measure the linear polarization of the prompt emission of Gamma Ray Bursts (GRB) and other strong transient sources such as soft gamma repeaters and solar flares in the energy…
PoGOLite is a hard X-ray polarimeter operating in the 25-100 keV energy band. The instrument design is optimised for the observation of compact astrophysical sources. Observations are conducted from a stabilised stratospheric balloon…
The E and B Experiment (EBEX) is a balloon-borne polarimeter designed to measure the polarization of the cosmic microwave background radiation and to characterize the polarization of galactic dust. EBEX was launched December 29, 2012 and…
Balloon-borne astronomy is a unique tool that allows for a level of image stability and significantly reduced atmospheric interference without the often prohibitive cost and long development time-scale that are characteristic of space-borne…
LiteBIRD is the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) radiation polarization satellite mission led by ISAS/JAXA. The main scientific goal is to search for primordial gravitational wave signals generated from the inflation epoch of the Universe.…
Multi-chroic polarization sensitive detectors offer an avenue to increase both the spectral coverage and sensitivity of instruments optimized for observations of the cosmic-microwave background (CMB) or sub-mm sky. We report on an effort to…
In this paper we investigate the impact of using a polarization modulator in the Short Wavelenght Instrument for the Polarization Explorer (SWIPE) of the Large Scale Polarization Explorer (LSPE). The experiment is optimized to measure the…
X-ray polarimetry has seen a growing interest in recent years. Improvements in detector technology and focusing X-ray optics now enable sensitive astrophysical X-ray polarization measurements. These measurements will provide new insights…
This work aims to demonstrate that two arrays of Lumped Element Kinetic Inductance Detectors (LEKIDs), when employed in filled array configuration and separated by an external linear polarizer oriented at 45 degrees, can achieve the…
The EXperiment for Cryogenic Large-Aperture Intensity Mapping (EXCLAIM) is a balloon-borne far-infrared telescope that will survey star formation history over cosmological time scales to improve our understanding of why the star formation…
The B-mode Foreground Experiment (BFORE) is a proposed NASA balloon project designed to make optimal use of the sub-orbital platform by concentrating on three dust foreground bands (270, 350, and 600 GHz) that complement ground-based cosmic…
We present the first linear polarization measurements from the 2015 long-duration balloon flight of SPIDER, an experiment designed to map the polarization of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) on degree angular scales. Results from these…
Balloon-borne telescopes present unique thermal design challenges which are a combination of those present for both space and ground telescopes. At altitudes of 35-40 km, convection effects are minimal and difficult to characterize.…
We describe the cryostat and supporting electronics for the EBEX experiment. EBEX is a balloon-borne polarimeter designed to measure the B-mode polarization of the cosmic microwave background radiation. The instrument includes a 1.5 meter…
Optical polarimeters are typically calibrated using measurements of stars with known and stable polarization parameters. However, there is a lack of such stars available across the sky. Many of the currently available standards are not…
The Polarized Instrument for Long-wavelength Observation of the Tenuous interstellar medium (PILOT) is a balloon-borne experiment aiming at measuring the polarized emission of thermal dust at a wavelength of 240 mm (1.2 THz). A first PILOT…
Balloon-borne astronomy is unique in that it allows for a level of image stability, resolution, and optical backgrounds that are comparable to space-borne systems due to greatly reduced atmospheric interference, but at a fraction of the…
SPOrt (Sky Polarization Observatory) is a space experiment to be flown on the International Space Station during Early Utilization Phase aimed at measuring the microwave polarized emission with FWHM = 7deg, in the frequency range 22-90 GHz.…
The Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST) is an observatory designed to perform gamma-ray astronomy in the energy range 20 MeV to 300 GeV, with supporting measurements for gamma-ray bursts from 10 keV to 25 MeV. GLAST will be…