ABOUT GIGABIT
GigaBIT, the Gigapixel-class Balloon-borne Imaging Telescope, will be a three-mirror anastigmat (TMA) system with a 1.34m primary mirror designed to perform wide-field imaging with diffraction limited resolutions in the near ultraviolet (NUV) over a wide field, giving it a resolution of better than 0.1 arcseconds - better than any telescope on Earth, and comparable to that of the Hubble Space Telescope.
GigaBIT aims to address the increasing and overwhelming demand for high-resolution astronomical imaging by operating above Earth’s turbulent atmosphere using NASA’s super-pressure balloon technology, thereby providing unprecedented wide-field high resolution imaging without the prohibitive cost and long development timescales of traditional space missions.
Why GigaBIT
GigaBIT will deliver cutting-edge optical and near-UV imaging with its resolution comparable to Hubble's, enabling us to explore the universe's intricate structures.
Performance
GigaBIT, aboard NASA's Super Pressure Balloon, delivers space-quality observations at a fraction of the cost of space-based telescopes, ensuring high impact and efficiency.
Cost-Effective
GigaBIT is engineered for sustainability, designed to return to Earth and support multiple flights, minimizing waste and reducing costs.
Reusable
GigaBIT builds on SuperBIT’s success, using proven technology and expertise to deliver reliable performance and new astronomical discoveries.
Proven
SUPERBIT
The Super-pressure Balloon-borne Imaging Telescope (SuperBIT), GigaBIT's predecessor, was a diffraction limited 0.5m optical-to-near-UV telescope that was designed to study dark matter via cluster weak lensing. SuperBIT launched from Wanaka, New Zealand via NASA’s Superpressure balloon on April 16, 2023 and flew for 40 days and 45 nights, making 5 trips around the world.
During the flight, SuperBIT obtained multi-band images for 30 science targets; data analysis to produce shear measurements for each target is ongoing. SuperBIT’s pointing system comprised three nested frames that stablized the entire telescope within 0.34 arcseconds rms, plus a back-end tip-tilt mirror that achieved focal plane image stability of 0.055 arcseconds rms during 300 second exposures.
