In-flight performance of the BLAST-TNG telescope platform

• Published in: Ground-based and Airborne Telescopes VIII
• Main Authors: Coppi, Gabriele, Ade, Peter A., Ashton, Peter C., Austermann, Jason E., Cox, Erin G., Devlin, Mark J., Dober, Bradley J., Fanfani, Valentina, Fissel, Laura M., Galitzki, Nicholas B., Gao, Jiansong, Gordon, Samuel, Groppi, Christopher E., Hilton, Gene C., Hubmayr, Johannes, Klein, Jeffrey, Li, Dale, Lowe, Ian, Lourie, Nathan P., Mckinney, Christopher, Mani, Hamdi, Mauskopf, Philip D., Nati, Federico, Novak, Giles, Pisano, Giampaolo, Romualdez, Javier L., Sinclair, Adrian K., Soler, Juan D., Tucker, Carole, Ullom, Joel, Visser, Michael, Wheeler, Caleb H., Williams, Paul A.
• Other Authors: Marshall, HK, Spyromilio, J, Usuda, T, Coppi, G, Ade, P, Ashton, P, Austermann, J, Cox, E, Devlin, M, Dober, B, Fanfani, V, Fissel, L, Galitzki, N, Gao, J, Gordon, S, Groppi, C, Hilton, G, Hubmayr, J, Klein, J, Li, D, Lowe, I, Lourie, N, Mckinney, C, Mani, H, Mauskopf, P, Nati, F, Novak, G, Pisano, G, Romualdez, J, Sinclair, A, Soler, J, Tucker, C, Ullom, J, Visser, M, Wheeler, C, Williams, P
• Format: Conference Object
• Language: English
• Published: S P I E - International Society for Optical Engineering 2020
• Subjects: Astronomy; Submillimeter; Telescope; Antarc*; Antarctica
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10281/298221; https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2560849; https://www.spiedigitallibrary.org/conference-proceedings-of-spie/11445.toc

The Next Generation Balloon-Borne Large Aperture Submillimeter Telescope (BLAST-TNG) was a unique instrument for characterizing the polarized submillimeter sky at high-angular resolution. BLAST-TNG flew from the Long Duration Balloon Facility in Antarctica in January 2020. Despite the short flight duration, the instrument worked very well and is providing significant information about each subsystem that will be invaluable for future balloon missions. In this contribution, we discuss the performance of telescope and gondola.