Purpose of the flight and payload description
PICTURE-D is the acronym for Planetary Imaging Coronagraph Testbed Using a Recoverable Experiment for Debris Disks a balloon-borne research instrument designed to directly image exozodiacal disks around nearby star systems in reflected visible light. It aims to characterize the morphology of these disks, analyze dust grain properties, study interactions between planets and dust, and calibrate dust models for future exoplanet imaging missions. The project is led by UMass Lowell, and counts with the collaboration of teams from the University of Arizona, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and NASA Wallops among others.
The instrument builds upon the PICTURE-C mission that flew twice from the NASA launch facility in New Mexico and demonstrated many of the key technologies required to image exoplanetary systems from a balloonw. PICTURE-D reuses much of its hardware and design while incorporating several upgrades to enhance scientific output. It employs a self-aligning, unobscured telescope that feeds a vortex coronagraph for high-contrast imaging. It includes adaptive optics systems for precise wavefront stabilization and correction, ensuring the clear separation of faint disk structures from bright stellar light.
The mission reuses the Wallops Arc Second Pointer (WASP) pointing system and gondola implementation from PICTURE-C, providing fine pointing control during the flight. Observations are conducted using a polarimetric science camera operating over a 20% visible bandpass from 540 to 660 nanometers, achieving a good raw contrast level. To improve data quality, the existing detector has been upgraded from a conventional CCD to an Electron Multiplying CCD (EMCCD), which significantly enhances the signal-to-noise ratio in faint light conditions. The vortex coronagraph was also upgraded, incorporating advanced designs such as the double grating vortex and possibly the scalar vortex, both of which allow simultaneous high-contrast imaging in two orthogonal polarizations, enabling polarimetric measurements of dust.
Additionally, PICTURE-D implements Multi-Star Wavefront Control software to observe dust in binary star systems without requiring new hardware.
Details of the balloon flight
Balloon launched on: 10/1/2025 at 15:39 UTC
Launch site: Scientific Flight Balloon Facility, Fort Sumner, (NM), US
Balloon launched by: Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility (CSBF)
Balloon manufacturer/size/composition: Zero Pressure Balloon Aerostar - W39.57-2-P (39.570.000 cuft)
Flight identification number: 758N
End of flight (L for landing time, W for last contact, otherwise termination time): 10/2/2025 at 12:00 UTC
Balloon flight duration (F: time at float only, otherwise total flight time in d:days / h:hours or m:minutes - ): 21 h
Landing site: Near Edmonson, Texas, US
External references
- PICTURE-D Umass Lowell website
- NASA Launches UMass Lowell Telescope that Seeks to Identify New Planets Umass Lowell website
- Seven Scientific Balloons to Fly From New Mexico for NASA Campaign NASA website
Images of the mission
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