@article{cfbd916e288b47849f16306e6f7e7d11,
title = "The Next Generation BLAST Experiment",
abstract = "The Balloon-borne Large Aperture Submillimeter Telescope for Polarimetry (BLASTPol) was a suborbital experiment designed to map magnetic fields in order to study their role in star formation processes. BLASTPol made detailed polarization maps of a number of molecular clouds during its successful flights from Antarctica in 2010 and 2012. We present the next-generation BLASTPol instrument (BLAST-TNG) that will build off the success of the previous experiment and continue its role as a unique instrument and a test bed for new technologies. With a 16-fold increase in mapping speed, BLAST-TNG will make larger and deeper maps. Major improvements include a 2.5-m carbon fiber mirror that is 40% wider than the BLASTPol mirror and ~3000 polarization sensitive detectors. BLAST-TNG will observe in three bands at 250, 350, and 500 μm. The telescope will serve as a pathfinder project for microwave kinetic inductance detector (MKID) technology, as applied to feedhorn-coupled submillimeter detector arrays. The liquid helium cooled cryostat will have a 28-day hold time and will utilize a closed-cycle 3He refrigerator to cool the detector arrays to 270 mK. This will enable a detailed mapping of more targets with higher polarization resolution than any other submillimeter experiment to date. BLAST-TNG will also be the first balloon-borne telescope to offer shared risk observing time to the community. This paper outlines the motivation for the project and the instrumental design.",
keywords = "Submillimeter, balloon, polarization, star formation, telescope",
author = "Nicholas Galitzki and Ade, {Peter A.R.} and Angile, {Francesco E.} and Peter Ashton and Beall, {James A.} and Dan Becker and Bradford, {Kristi J.} and George Che and Cho, {Hsiao Mei} and Devlin, {Mark J.} and Dober, {Bradley J.} and Fissel, {Laura M.} and Yasuo Fukui and Jiansong Gao and Groppi, {Christopher E.} and Seth Hillbrand and Hilton, {Gene C.} and Johannes Hubmayr and Irwin, {Kent D.} and Jeffrey Klein and {Van Lanen}, Jeff and Dale Li and Li, {Zhi Yun} and Lourie, {Nathan P.} and Hamdi Mani and Martin, {Peter G.} and Philip Mauskopf and Fumitaka Nakamura and Giles Novak and Pappas, {David P.} and Enzo Pascale and Giampaolo Pisano and Santos, {Fabio P.} and Giorgio Savini and Douglas Scott and Sara Stanchfield and Carole Tucker and Ullom, {Joel N.} and Matthew Underhill and Vissers, {Michael R.} and Derek Ward-Thompson",
note = "Funding Information: The BLAST-TNG collaboration acknowledges the support of NASA through grant numbers NNX13AE50G S04 and NNX09AB98G, the Lever-hulme Trust through the Research Project Grant F/00 407/BN, Canada{\textquoteright}s Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC), and the National Science Foundation Office of Polar Programs. The BLAST-TNG collaboration would also like to acknowledge the Xilinx University Program for their generous donation of 4 Virtex-6 FPGAs for use in our ROACH-2 readout electronics. Frederick Poidevin thanks the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO) under the Consolider-Ingenio project CSD2010-00064 (EPI: Exploring the Physics of Inflation). Bradley Dober is supported through a NASA Earth and Space Science Fellowship. Peter Ashton is supported through Reach for the Stars, a GK-12 program supported by the National Science Foundation under grant DGE-0948017. However, any opinions, findings, conclusions, and/or recommendations are those of the investigators and do not Funding Information: The BLAST-TNG collaboration acknowledges the support of NASA through grant numbers NNX13AE50G S04 and NNX09AB98G, the Leverhulme Trust through the Research Project Grant F/00 407/BN, Canada's Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC), and the National Science Foundation Office of Polar Programs. The BLAST-TNG collaboration would also like to acknowledge the Xilinx University Program for their generous donation of 4 Virtex- 6 FPGAs for use in our ROACH-2 readout electronics. Frederick Poidevin thanks the SpanishMinistry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO) under the Consolider-Ingenio project CSD2010- 00064 (EPI: Exploring the Physics of Inflation). Bradley Dober is supported through a NASA Earth and Space Science Fellowship. Peter Ashton is supported through Reach for the Stars, a GK-12 program supported by the National Science Foundation under grant DGE-0948017. However, any opinions, findings, conclusions, and/or recommendations are those of the investigators and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Foundation. We would also like to thank the Columbia Scientic Balloon Facility (CSBF) staff for their continued outstanding work. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2014 World Scientific Publishing Company.",
year = "2014",
month = nov,
day = "1",
doi = "10.1142/S2251171714400017",
language = "English (US)",
volume = "3",
journal = "Journal of Astronomical Instrumentation",
issn = "2251-1717",
publisher = "World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte Ltd",
number = "2",
}