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

The ARCADE experiment is an instrument created to observe the radiation remannant from the Big Bang that originated the Universe. This radiation known as the cosmic microwave background (CMB) is present everywhere in the sky as a faint emission whose temperature aproaches the absolute zero: 2.7 K.

The only way to measure such a wake radiation is to use very sensitive detectors which must be cooled as close as possible to these temperatures.

All previous measurement programs below 60 GHz needed significant post-flight corrections in the data obtained due to the fact that the instruments itself introduce spurious signals (heat) that affect the data gathering process.

ARCADE design instead of being focused in the use of more sensitive state-of-the-art detectors, was created with one clear objective: to be fully cryogenic, so the microwave emission from any component of the instrument are negligible reducing at the minimum the need for data correction. Maintaining such a large volume and mass at cryogenic temperatures in an open environment without significant atmospheric condensation presents considerable instrumental challenges.

The instrument core is contained within a large (1.5 m diameter, 2.4 m tall) open bucket dewar filled with liquid helium. All internal and external components are maintained at temperatures near 2.7 K through the use of the liquid helium contained which circulates by a network of superfluid pumps.

Boiloff helium gas is used for the initial cool-down of components on ascent, and directed in flight to discourage the condensation of ambient nitrogen on the aperture.

The incoming emission enter the instrument trought corrugated horn antennas for each frequency band .These antennas hang from a flat horizontal aluminum aperture plate at the top of the open dewar. There are seven observing channels, one each at 3, 5, 8, 10, 30, and 90 GHz, and an additional channel at 30 GHz with a much narrower antenna beam.

The experiment performs a doubly nulled measurement, with the radiometric temperature of the sky compared to the physical temperature of an external calibrator. This is achieved by mean of a carousel structure containing both a port for sky viewing and the external calibrator which sits atop the aperture plate and turns about a central axis to alternately expose the horns to either the sky or the calibrator.

The external calibrator consists of 298 cones, each made of steelcast absorber cast onto an aluminum core measuring 88 mm long and 35 mm in diameter.

The corrugated horn antennas are sliced at the aperture to point 30º from zenith when hung from the flat aluminum aperture plate. This is so the antenna beam boresights are directed away from the flight train and so that they trace out a circle 60º on the sky as the dewar rotates below the balloon.

The horns are arrayed on the aperture plate in three clusters, with the 3 GHz horn occupying one, the 5 and 8 GHz horns occupying a second, and the remaining horns, the "high bands", occupying the third.

The sky port in the carousel is surrounded by reflective stainless steel flares which shield the edge of the antenna beams from instrument contamination and direct boiloff helium gas out of the port to discourage nitrogen condensation in the horn aperture. The carousel is turned with a motor and chain drive, with the motor mounted outside of the dewar.

The dewar is mounted in an external frame supported 64 m below the balloon. Boxes containing the read out and control electronics and batteries are also mounted there. The external frame is suspended by two vertical cables from a horizontal spreader bar 1.14 m above the top of the dewar, which itself is suspended by two cables from a rotator assembly which maintains the rotation of the payload below the balloon at approximately 0.6 RPM.

The rotator assembly is suspended from a truck plate, above which is the flight train. Reflector plates of metalized foam are mounted on the spreader bar to shield the edge of the antenna beam from the flight train. The total mass at launch, including liquid helium, is 2400 kg.

A fiberglass lid mounted on the frame is closed to cover the dewar on ascent and descent and opened for observations. Thermometry, heater, and other signals are interfaced between the dewar and the exterior electronics box via cabling and a collar of insulated connectors at the top of the dewar. Three-axis magnetometers and inclinometers mounted on the frame, along with GPS latitude, longitude, and altitude data recorded by CSBF instruments, allow the reconstruction of the pointing of the antenna beams during flight.

A video camera mounted on the spreader bar above the dewar allows direct imaging of the cold optics in flight. Two banks of light-emitting diodes provide the necessary illumination. The camera and lights can be commanded on and off. During lapses in which the camera and leds are on the data is not used for science analysis.

When the instrument is ready for flight, the lid is closed and the dewar is cooled with nitrogen to around 100 K. Then the ground team fill the dewar with around 1900 liters of liquid helium, operation which takes several hours. They await a launch opportunity, with the helium level topped off each day. The instrument is launched with the carousel in the "ascent" position that aligns the vent holes in the aperture and carousel, which directs boil-off gas across the back of the external calibrator, providing a powerful cooling source for its large thermal mass. Once float altitude is reached the instrument lid is open for observing, moving the carousel to a new position frequently (around once every five minutes).

After the observation is concluded and before the separation of the payload from the balloon is carried out the lid is closed again.

Balloon launched on: 6/15/2003
Launch site: Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility, Palestine, Texas, US  
Balloon launched by: National Scientific Balloon Facility (NSBF)
Balloon manufacturer/size/composition: Zero Pressure Balloon Raven 11L - 11.820.000 cuft - SF3-11.82-.8/.8-NH
Balloon serial number: W11.82.1E-18
Flight identification number: 1583P
End of flight (L for landing time, W for last contact, otherwise termination time): 6/15/2003 at 11:02 utc
Balloon flight duration (F: time at float only, otherwise total flight time in d:days / h:hours or m:minutes - ): 10 h 41 m
Landing site: 20 miles ENE of Snyder,Texas, US
Payload weight: 2852 lbs

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.

The above description matches the full scale instrument design flown in 2005 and 2006. This flight instead was the second engineering flight using the full size dewar but only carried two horn antennas and radiometers observing the channels at 10 and 30 GHz.

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.

• ARCADE website Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA
• Arcade Website II Experimental Cosmology Group, UCSB
• 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