Jean-Philippe Bernard

Jean-Philippe Bernard Colloquium: Stratospheric balloons at the frontier of space

Marsfield Lecture Theatre

Abstract

Stratospheric balloons at the frontier of space: The example of PILOT

PILOT is a balloon-borne experiment dedicated to measuring the far-infrared polarized
emission from dust in the diffuse ISM of our galaxy and nearby galaxies. I will present the
experiment and its science objectives in the context of the recent results in polarization of
the Planck satellite, and in particular the importance of such measurements for future
measurements of the CMB polarization in search for B-modes. I will describe the first flight of the
experiment which took place from Timmins, Canada in Sept 2015 and the in-flight performances
achieved. The next flight of PILOT will be from Alice Springq in April 2017 during a flight campaign
being operated by the French national space agency (CNES) and prepared in collaboration with the CSIRO.

I will discuss the opportunity which is offered to the Australian astronomical community to participate
in this forthcoming flight campaign, either through collaborations on the PILOT program or
through the possibility to load its own instrumentation on one of the gondolas that will be flown.
I will conclude with the perspectives of the field.