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SPIDER
Telescope Details
Location
Balloon experiment launched from Antarctica
Purpose
Make precision measurements of the polarization of the cosmic microwave background. SPIDER’s cameras look for the pattern, or polarization, of gravitational waves produced by the fluctuation of energy and density that resulted from the Big Bang. A low-resolution camera is the least expensive, most efficient way to scan large areas of the sky.
NIST’s role
For the first flight, NIST provided electronics to collect sensor data. For the following flight, NIST provided arrays of 1,500 sensors.
Significant discoveries and current status
SPIDER is the only balloon experiment to place limits on the possible size of primordial gravitational waves from the beginning of the universe.
The mission has completed operations.
Other interesting facts
The entire telescope is chilled below 4 kelvin because a cold instrument can detect more real signals with less contamination by noise. The telescope weighs 2,722 kilograms (6,000 pounds) and is attached to a helium-filled balloon. The payload floats 36,576 meters (120,000 feet) above Antarctica as it observes the cosmos.
Funded by
NASA and the David and Lucile Packard Foundation
Partners
California Institute of Technology and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics, Cardiff University, Case Western Reserve University, Imperial College London, Princeton University, University of British Columbia, University of Cambridge and University of Toronto
Media
Contacts
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(303) 497-6164