For BOOMERANG (Balloon Observations of Millimetric Extragalactic Radiation and Geophysics)

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Launch site:National Scientific Balloon Facility, Palestine, Texas, US  
Launch team: National Scientific Balloon Facility (NSBF)
Balloon: Open balloon (zero pressure)
Volume: Raven 28X - 800.000 m3
Serial number: -
Flight identification number: 1559P
Campaign: - 
Payload weight: 4517 lbs
Gondola weight: -
Overall weight: -

The balloon was launched by dynamic method, around 7:30 local time on August 29, after which the balloon took two and a half hours to reach its float altitude of 38.5 km when it started to flight to the west.

After a flight of 5 hours and before the package moves out of telemetry range of the base, was decided to terminate it. The payload landed safely near Fort Stockton, Texas.

This flight was the second try after a failed flight on August 12.

BOOMERANG (Balloon Observations of Millimetric Extragalactic Radiation and Geophysics)

Responsable institution:  University of Rome, la Sapienza / California Institute of Technology
Principal Investigator:  Prof. Paolo de Bernardis / Dr. Andrew Lange

This telescope is the culmination of a great cooperative effort between Italian and American teams. It was designed to have the angular resolution and sensitivity necessary to measure the angular power spectrum of anisotropy in the cosmic microwave background at sub-degree scales, a region where there is a wealth of cosmological information.

The telescope consists of a 1.3m off-axis paraboloidal mirror feeding a pair of cold (1.5 K) ellipsoidal mirrors which reimage the prime focus onto an array of feed horns. These concentrate the incoming radiation onto bolometric detectors, cooled to 0.3 Kelvin by a helium refrigerator.

The pointing system consists of a pair of flywheels which torque the telescope against the flight train of the balloon. The rotation rate is adjusted via feedback from rate gyroscopes, a magnetometer, and tilt sensors. The telescope is fully pointable in azimuth, and can tip between 35 and 55 degrees in elevation. An on-board optical star-tracking camera allows accurate post-flight reconstruction of pointing.