SuperBIT: THIS low-cost 'floating telescope' might replace NASA's aged Hubble

While NASA’s Hubble Telescope is back after spending at least a month out of action due to failure of its paylo computer, SuperBIT Project’s helium telescope might be next big thing in world of astronomy and can compete with Hubble. For several years, NASA’s Hubble has been credited for capturing stunning images of space but Superpressure Balloon-borne Imaging Telescope, also known as SuperBIT will fly in sky 40 kilometres above sea level and will provide “insight into distribution of dark matter in galaxy clusters and universe", according to Department of Physics of University of Toronto's website.

All about SuperBIT telescope

SuperBIT telescope is developed by a team of scientists from University of Toronto, Princeton University, and Durham University in England along with NASA as well as Canian Space Agency. official website of University of Toronto described telescope as a “highly-stabilized, high-resolution telescope that operates in stratosphere via NASA's super-pressure balloon (SPB) system.”

SuperBIT is a 0.5m, wide-field, and diffraction-limited balloon-borne telescope which is carried to required altitude of 40 km above sea level by a helium balloon with a volume of 532,000 cubic meters, about size of a football stium. It operates in stratosphere in a bid to achieve space-like operating conditions as well as performance. optical sensitivity of telescope is from near-infrared (900nm) to near-ultraviolet (300 nm).

official website also stated, “SuperBIT aims to make precise weak gravitational lensing measurements of galaxy clusters in order to infer presence and relative quantity of dark matter in se clusters as well as large scale structure of universe.”

Presently, SuperBIT is undergoing preparations for its fully operational science flight which is set to launch from Wanaka, New Zealand in March 2022. As per official statement, SuperBIT will be launching and maintaining its operations at an altitude of around 40 km above sea level through United States space agency’s super-pressure balloon (SPB) system. creators have noted that benefit of relatively novel SPB system over conventional zero-pressure balloon systems is that stratospheric operations can be supported through diurnal cycles for more than 30 days, enabling SuperBIT to collect images and data necessary to meet weak lensing science requirements.

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