The STUDIO UV astronomy mission - a step towards a European balloon observatory
Abstract
Balloons offer a flexible and affordable alternative to space telescopes, with short development times and comparably good observing conditions in many wavelength ranges. Yet, the entry burden to use balloon-borne telescopes is high, with research groups typically having to shoulder part of the infrastructure development as well. Aiming to ease access to balloon-based observations, we present the concept of a community-accessible balloon-based observatory, the European Stratospheric Balloon Observatory (ESBO). ESBO aims at complementing the current landscape of scientific ballooning activities by providing a service-centered infrastructure for broad astronomical use, performing regular flights and offering an operations concept that provides researchers with a similar proposal-based access to observation time as practiced on ground-based observatories. We furthermore present details on the first step towards ESBO: the STUDIO (Stratospheric UV Demonstrator of an Imaging Observatory) prototype platform and mission, carrying a 0.5-m telescope with a new generation micro channel plate (MCP) detector for the UV. STUDIO is currently envisioned for a flight during the summer turnaround conditions over Esrange in August/September 2021.
- Publication:
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43rd COSPAR Scientific Assembly. Held 28 January - 4 February
- Pub Date:
- January 2021
- Bibcode:
- 2021cosp...43E2303M