The Stratospheric UV Demonstrator of an Imaging Observatory (STUDIO) is a balloon-borne platform designed and built to carry different astronomical instruments or telescopes. It thereby offers an accessible and affordable platform for observations in atmosphere-constrained wavelength ranges. In its current setup, it houses an imaging micro-channel plate (MCP) detector on a 0.5 m aperture telescope. The first flight of this setup is planned during the summer turnaround conditions over Esrange, Sweden, in the 2023 or 2024 season. This mission will act as a demonstrator and technical test for the versatile and scalable astronomical platform as well as for the aforementioned MCP instrument. If successful, it will furthermore allow first scientific studies of variable hot compact stars and flaring M-dwarf stars within the galactic plane. In this paper, we present the design and current status of testing of the STUDIO platform, particularly including environmental tests of the optical elements, on-sky tests of the gondola attitude control system, and simulation results of the image stabilization system. We furthermore describe the planned system tests as part of the flight preparation. As an outlook, we present details on how the platform can be used to fly different instruments or telescopes, including potential flight routes and science opportunities.
Stratospheric balloons offer accessible and affordable platforms for observations in atmosphere-constrained wavelength ranges. At the same time, they can serve as an effective step for technology demonstration towards future space applications of instruments and other hardware. The Stratospheric UV Demonstrator of an Imaging Observatory (STUDIO) is a balloon-borne platform and mission carrying an imaging micro-channel plate (MCP) detector on a 0.5 m aperture telescope. STUDIO is currently planned to fly during the summer turnaround conditions over Esrange, Sweden, in the 2022 season. For details on the ultraviolet (UV) detector, see the contribution of Conti et al. to this symposium.1 The scientific goal of the mission is to survey for variable hot compact stars and flaring M-dwarf stars within the galactic plane. At the same time, the mission acts as a demonstrator for a versatile and scalable astronomical balloon platform as well as for the aforementioned MCP instrument. The gondola is designed to allow the use of different instruments or telescopes. Furthermore, it is designed to serve for several, also longer flights, which are envisioned under the European Stratospheric Balloon Observatory (ESBO) initiative. In this paper, we present the design and current status of manufacturing and testing of the STUDIO platform. We furthermore present the current plans for the flight and observations from Esrange.
This paper presents the concept of a community-accessible stratospheric balloon-based observatory that is currently under preparation by a consortium of European research institutes and industry.
The planned European Stratospheric Balloon Observatory (ESBO) aims at complementing the current landscape of scientific ballooning activities by providing a service-centered infrastructure tailored towards broad astronomical use. In particular, the concept focuses on reusable platforms with exchangeable instruments and telescopes performing regular flights and an operations concept that provides researchers with options to test and operate own instruments, but later on also a proposal-based access to observations. It thereby aims at providing a complement to ground-, space-based, and airborne observatories in terms of access to wavelength regimes – particularly the ultraviolet (UV) and far infrared (FIR) regimes –, spatial resolution capability, and photometric stability. Within the currently ongoing ESBO Design Study (ESBO DS), financed within the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Programme, a prototype platform carrying a 0.5-m telescope for UV and visible light observations is being built and concepts for larger following platforms, leading up to a next-generation FIR telescope are being studied. A flight of the UV/visible prototype platform is currently foreseen for 2021.
We present the technical motivation, science case, instrumentation, and a two-stage image stabilization approach of the 0.5-m UV/visible platform. In addition, we briefly describe the novel mid-sized stabilized balloon gondola under design to carry telescopes in the 0.5 to 0.6 m range as well as the currently considered flight option for this platform.
Secondly, we outline the scientific and technical motivation for a large balloon-based FIR telescope and the ESBO DS approach towards such an infrastructure.
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