Pre-flight integration and characterization of the SPIDER balloon-borne telescope
We present the results of integration and characterization of the Spider instrument after the 2013 pre-flight campaign. Spider is a balloon-borne polarimeter designed to probe the primordial gravitational wave signal in the degree-scale B-mode polarization of the cosmic microwave background. With si...
Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , |
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Other Authors: | , |
Format: | Book Part |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Society of Photo-optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE)
2014
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Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://authors.library.caltech.edu/87251/ https://authors.library.caltech.edu/87251/1/915313.pdf https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechAUTHORS:20180620-083924426 |
Summary: | We present the results of integration and characterization of the Spider instrument after the 2013 pre-flight campaign. Spider is a balloon-borne polarimeter designed to probe the primordial gravitational wave signal in the degree-scale B-mode polarization of the cosmic microwave background. With six independent telescopes housing over 2000 detectors in the 94 GHz and 150 GHz frequency bands, Spider will map 7.5% of the sky with a depth of 11 to 14 μK•arcmin at each frequency, which is a factor of ~5 improvement over Planck. We discuss the integration of the pointing, cryogenic, electronics, and power sub-systems, as well as pre-flight characterization of the detectors and optical systems. Spider is well prepared for a December 2014 flight from Antarctica, and is expected to be limited by astrophysical foreground emission, and not instrumental sensitivity, over the survey region. |
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