Focal Plane Actuation to Achieve Ultra-High Resolution on Suborbital Balloon Payloads

This project aims to demonstrate in the laboratory the utility and performance of actuating a detector focal plane (of whatever type) to remove the final jitter terms using an agile hexapod design. The input to this demonstration will be the jitter signal generated by the pointing system of a previously flown balloon mission. Our group has a mature jitter compensation system that thermally isolates the control head from the focal plane itself. This allows the hexapod to remain at ambient temperature in a vacuum environment with the focal plane cooled to cryogenic temperatures. Our lab design will mount the focal plane on the hexapod in a custom cryostat and deliver an active optical stimulus together with the corresponding jitter signal and use the actuation of the hexapod to correct for the departures from a static, stable configuration. We believe this demonstration will make the case for inclusion of this technological solution in future balloon-borne imaging systems requiring ultra-high resolution.

Technology for actuating a detector focal plane to remove jitter on balloon-borne imaging systems requiring ultra-high resolution will benefit the commercial space industry and future NASA missions.

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