End-to-end ground calibration and in-flight performance of the FIREBall-2 instrument

Vincent Picouet; Bruno Milliard; Gillian Kyne; Didier Vibert; David Schiminovich; Christopher Martin; Erika Hamden; Keri Hoadley; Johan Montel; Nicole Melso; Donal O’Sullivan; Jean Evrard; Etienne Perot; Robert Grange; Shouleh Nikzad; Philippe Balard; Patrick Blanchard; Frederi Mirc; Nicolas Bray; April Jewell; Samuel Quiret

doi:10.1117/1.JATIS.6.4.044004

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End-to-end ground calibration and in-flight performance of the FIREBall-2 instrument

Journal article

Peer reviewed

End-to-end ground calibration and in-flight performance of the FIREBall-2 instrument

Vincent Picouet, Bruno Milliard, Gillian Kyne, Didier Vibert, David Schiminovich, Christopher Martin, Erika Hamden, Keri Hoadley, Johan Montel, Nicole Melso, …

Journal of astronomical telescopes, instruments, and systems, Vol.6(4), pp.044004-044004

10/01/2020

DOI: 10.1117/1.JATIS.6.4.044004

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Abstract

The payload of the Faint Intergalactic Redshifted Emission Balloon (FIREBall-2), the second generation of the FIREBall instrument (PI: C. Martin, Caltech), has been calibrated and launched from the NASA Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility in Fort Sumner, New Mexico. FIREBall-2 was launched for the first time on the September 22, 2018, and the payload performed the very first multi-object acquisition from space using a multi-object spectrograph. Our performance-oriented paper presents the calibration and last ground adjustments of FIREBall-2, the in-flight performance assessed based on the flight data, and the predicted instrument’s ultimate sensitivity. This analysis predicts that future flights of FIREBall-2 should be able to detect the HI Lyα resonance line in galaxies at z ∼ 0.67, but will find it challenging to spatially resolve the circumgalactic medium.

multi-object spectrograph

space mission

balloon borne instrument

calibration

ultraviolet

electron multiplying CCD

Details

Title: Subtitle: End-to-end ground calibration and in-flight performance of the FIREBall-2 instrument
Creators: Vincent Picouet - Aix-Marseille Université
Bruno Milliard - Aix-Marseille Université
Gillian Kyne - California Institute of Technology
Didier Vibert - Aix-Marseille Université
David Schiminovich - Columbia University
Christopher Martin - California Institute of Technology
Erika Hamden - University of Arizona
Keri Hoadley - California Institute of Technology
Johan Montel - Centre National d'Études Spatiales
Nicole Melso - Columbia University
Donal O’Sullivan - California Institute of Technology, Cahill Center for Astrophysics, Pasadena, California, United States
Jean Evrard - Centre National d'Études Spatiales
Etienne Perot - Centre National d'Études Spatiales
Robert Grange - Aix-Marseille Université
Shouleh Nikzad - Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Philippe Balard - Aix-Marseille Université
Patrick Blanchard - Aix-Marseille Université
Frederi Mirc - Centre National d'Études Spatiales
Nicolas Bray - Centre National d'Études Spatiales
April Jewell - Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Samuel Quiret - Aix-Marseille Université
Resource Type: Journal article
Publication Details: Journal of astronomical telescopes, instruments, and systems, Vol.6(4), pp.044004-044004
DOI: 10.1117/1.JATIS.6.4.044004
ISSN: 2329-4124
eISSN: 2329-4221
Publisher: Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers
Grant note: NNX17AC56G / National Aeronautics and Space Administration (https://doi.org/10.13039/100000104) Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales (https://doi.org/10.13039/501100002830)
Language: English
Date published: 10/01/2020
Academic Unit: Physics and Astronomy
Record Identifier: 9984428778102771

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