ARCADE (Absolute Radiometer for Cosmology, Astrophysics, and Diffuse Emission) -2003-

Data of the stratospheric balloon launched on 6/15/2003

For ARCADE (Absolute Radiometer for Cosmology, Astrophysics, and Diffuse Emission)

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Details of the balloon and launch operations

Launch site:National Scientific Balloon Facility, Palestine, Texas, US
Launch team: National Scientific Balloon Facility (NSBF)
Balloon: Open balloon (zero pressure)
Volume: Raven 11L - 11.820.000 cuft
Serial number: -
Flight identification number: 1583P
Campaign: -
Payload weight: 2852 lbs
Gondola weight: -
Overall weight: -

The balloon was launched by dynamic method with assistance of launch vehicle on 2003 June 15 at 1:00 UTC.

The balloon reached a float altitude of 35 km at 4:00 UTC.

After a flight of near 10 hours, the separation command was transmited at 11:02 utc and the payloas landed NE of Snyder, Texas, USA.

No more data available at the moment.

Images

Click to enlarge.

© ARCADE web site

Description of the payload or experiment

ARCADE (Absolute Radiometer for Cosmology, Astrophysics, and Diffuse Emission)

Responsable institution: NASA - Goddard Space Flight Center
Principal Investigator: Dr. Alan Kogut

A high altitude balloon payload designed to study the early universe and composed by two radiometers at 10 and 30 ghz mounted in a liquid helium dewar.

It measures the frequency spectrum of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB), to search for signals from the first stars to form after the Big Bang. The instrument compares the measured CMB frequency spectrum of CMB radiation at centimeter wavelengths by comparing the heat from deep space to an on-board blackbody calibrator.

To reduce the signal from the instrument itself, the entire instrument is maintained near absolute zero in an open bucket dewar, which is the largest open-aperture cryogenic payload ever to fly on a balloon.

At left can be seen a scheme of the gondola in the 2003 flight version (click to enlarge).

Performance in flight and data obtained

This was the first scientific mission after an engineering flight the previous year.

During the flight the calibrator motor (wich places the blackbody in front of radiometer for comparison purposes with the background) failed so the most useful observations were from 4:36 to 5:36 UT. After that only engineering data were collected.

External references and bibliographical sources

	ARCADE web site Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA
	An Instrument To Measure The Temperature Of The Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation At Centimeter Wavelengths ApJS, 154, 493-499
	ARCADE: Absolute Radiometer for Cosmology, Astrophysics, and Diffuse Emission Proceedings of the Fundamental Physics With CMB workshop, UC Irvine, March 23-25, 2006
	The Temperature of the Cosmic Microwave Background at 10 GHz ApJ, 612, 86-95

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