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Robust diffraction-limited near-infrared-to-near-ultraviolet wide-field imaging from stratospheric balloon-borne platforms—Super-pressure Balloon-borne Imaging Telescope performance (2020)
Journal Article
Romualdez, L. J., Benton, S. J., Brown, A. M., Clark, P., Damaren, C. J., Eifler, T., …Tam, S. (2020). Robust diffraction-limited near-infrared-to-near-ultraviolet wide-field imaging from stratospheric balloon-borne platforms—Super-pressure Balloon-borne Imaging Telescope performance. Review of Scientific Instruments, 91(3), Article 034501. https://doi.org/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,... Read More about Robust diffraction-limited near-infrared-to-near-ultraviolet wide-field imaging from stratospheric balloon-borne platforms—Super-pressure Balloon-borne Imaging Telescope performance.

An open source toolkit for the tracking, termination and recovery of high altitude balloon flights and payloads (2019)
Journal Article
Clark, P., Funk, M., Funk, B., Funk, T., Meadows, R., Brown, A., …Netterfield, C. (2019). An open source toolkit for the tracking, termination and recovery of high altitude balloon flights and payloads. Journal of Instrumentation, 14(04), Article P04003. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-0221/14/04/p04003

We present an open source toolkit of flight-proven electronic devices which can be used to track, terminate and recover high altitude balloon flights and payloads. Comprising a beacon, pyrotechnic and non-pyrotechnic cut-down devices plus associated... Read More about An open source toolkit for the tracking, termination and recovery of high altitude balloon flights and payloads.

Auto-tuned thermal control on stratospheric balloon experiments (2018)
Conference Proceeding
Redmond, S., Benton, S., Brown, A., Clark, P., Damaren, C., Eifler, T., …Tam, S. (2018). Auto-tuned thermal control on stratospheric balloon experiments. In H. K. Marshall, J. Spyromilio, & R. Gilmozzi (Eds.), Ground-based and Airborne Telescopes VII : 10–15 June 2018, Austin, Texas, United States ; proceedings. https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2312339

Balloon-borne experiments present unique thermal design challenges, which are a combination of those present for both space and ground experiments. Radiation and conduction are the predominant heat transfer mechanisms with convection effects being mi... Read More about Auto-tuned thermal control on stratospheric balloon experiments.

Overview, design, and flight results from SuperBIT: a high-resolution, wide-field, visible-to-near-UV balloon-borne astronomical telescope (2018)
Conference Proceeding
Romualdez, L., Benton, S., Brown, A., Clark, P., Damaren, C., Eifler, T., …Tam, S. (2018). Overview, design, and flight results from SuperBIT: a high-resolution, wide-field, visible-to-near-UV balloon-borne astronomical telescope. In H. Takami, C. J. Evans, & L. Simard (Eds.), Proceedings of SPIE, Ground-based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy VII. https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2307754

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 facility-... Read More about Overview, design, and flight results from SuperBIT: a high-resolution, wide-field, visible-to-near-UV balloon-borne astronomical telescope.

Thermal, Structural, and Optical Analysis of a Balloon-Based Imaging System (2017)
Journal Article
Borden, M., Lewis, D., Ochoa, H., Jones-Wilson, L., Susca, S., Porter, M., …Netterfield, B. (2017). Thermal, Structural, and Optical Analysis of a Balloon-Based Imaging System. Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, 129, Article 035001. https://doi.org/10.1088/1538-3873/129/973/035001

The Subarcsecond Telescope And BaLloon Experiment, STABLE, is the fine stage of a guidance system for a high-altitude ballooning platform designed to demonstrate subarcsecond pointing stability over one minute using relatively dim guide stars in the... Read More about Thermal, Structural, and Optical Analysis of a Balloon-Based Imaging System.

Characterization of a Commercial, Front-Illuminated Interline Transfer CCD Camera for use as a Guide Camera on a Balloon-Borne Telescope (2014)
Journal Article
Clark, P., Massey, R., Chang, H., Galloway, M., Israel, H., Jones, L., …Susca, S. (2014). Characterization of a Commercial, Front-Illuminated Interline Transfer CCD Camera for use as a Guide Camera on a Balloon-Borne Telescope. Journal of Astronomical Instrumentation, 3(2), Article 1440003. https://doi.org/10.1142/s2251171714400030

We report results obtained during the characterization of a commercial front-illuminated progressive scan interline transfer CCD camera. We demonstrate that the unmodified camera operates successfully in temperature and pressure conditions (-40°C, 4... Read More about Characterization of a Commercial, Front-Illuminated Interline Transfer CCD Camera for use as a Guide Camera on a Balloon-Borne Telescope.