TY - JOUR
T1 - The EBEX Balloon-borne Experiment - Gondola, Attitude Control, and Control Software
AU - Aboobaker, Asad
AU - Ade, Peter
AU - Araujo, Derek
AU - Aubin, François
AU - Baccigalupi, Carlo
AU - Bao, Chaoyun
AU - Chapman, Daniel
AU - Didier, Joy
AU - Dobbs, Matt
AU - Grainger, Will
AU - Hanany, Shaul
AU - Helson, Kyle
AU - Hillbrand, Seth
AU - Hubmayr, Johannes
AU - Jaffe, Andrew
AU - Johnson, Bradley
AU - Jones, Terry
AU - Klein, Jeff
AU - Korotkov, Andrei
AU - Lee, Adrian
AU - Levinson, Lorne
AU - Limon, Michele
AU - Macdermid, Kevin
AU - Miller, Amber D.
AU - Milligan, Michael
AU - Moncelsi, Lorenzo
AU - Pascale, Enzo
AU - Raach, Kate
AU - Reichborn-Kjennerud, Britt
AU - Sagiv, Ilan
AU - Tucker, Carole
AU - Tucker, Gregory S.
AU - Westbrook, Benjamin
AU - Young, Karl
AU - Zilic, Kyle
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2018. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.
PY - 2018/11
Y1 - 2018/11
N2 - The E and B Experiment (EBEX) was a long-duration balloon-borne instrument designed to measure the polarization of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation. EBEX was the first balloon-borne instrument to implement a kilopixel array of transition edge sensor (TES) bolometric detectors and the first CMB experiment to use the digital version of the frequency domain multiplexing system for readout of the TES array. The scan strategy relied on 40 s peak-to-peak constant-velocity azimuthal scans. We discuss the unique demands on the design and operation of the payload that resulted from these new technologies and the scan strategy. We describe the solutions implemented, including the development of a power system designed to provide a total of at least 2.3 kW, a cooling system to dissipate 590 W consumed by the detectors' readout system, software to manage and handle the data of the kilopixel array, and specialized attitude reconstruction software. We present flight performance data showing faultless management of the TES array, adequate powering and cooling of the readout electronics, and constraint of attitude reconstruction errors such that the spurious B-modes they induced were less than 10% of the CMB B-mode power spectrum with r = 0.05.
AB - The E and B Experiment (EBEX) was a long-duration balloon-borne instrument designed to measure the polarization of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation. EBEX was the first balloon-borne instrument to implement a kilopixel array of transition edge sensor (TES) bolometric detectors and the first CMB experiment to use the digital version of the frequency domain multiplexing system for readout of the TES array. The scan strategy relied on 40 s peak-to-peak constant-velocity azimuthal scans. We discuss the unique demands on the design and operation of the payload that resulted from these new technologies and the scan strategy. We describe the solutions implemented, including the development of a power system designed to provide a total of at least 2.3 kW, a cooling system to dissipate 590 W consumed by the detectors' readout system, software to manage and handle the data of the kilopixel array, and specialized attitude reconstruction software. We present flight performance data showing faultless management of the TES array, adequate powering and cooling of the readout electronics, and constraint of attitude reconstruction errors such that the spurious B-modes they induced were less than 10% of the CMB B-mode power spectrum with r = 0.05.
KW - balloons
KW - cosmic background radiation
KW - cosmology: observations
KW - instrumentation: polarimeters
KW - polarization
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U2 - 10.3847/1538-4365/aae435
DO - 10.3847/1538-4365/aae435
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85057801658
SN - 0067-0049
VL - 239
JO - Astrophysical Journal, Supplement Series
JF - Astrophysical Journal, Supplement Series
IS - 1
M1 - 9
ER -