Performance of the Spanish infrared camera onboard the EUSO-Balloon (CNES) flight on August 25, 2014

Abstract

The EUSO-Balloon, pathfinder for the JEM-EUSO Space Mission, was launched during the night of August 25, 2014. The main aim of the flight was to test all the technologies developed for the EUSO (Extreme Universe Space Observatory) Mission under very severe operating conditions (Stratosphere at 40km altitude), partly representative of the working conditions in ISS. The IR camera onboard EUSO-Balloon is used to obtain the Cloud Top Height (CTH) and cloud coverage in the Field of View (FoV) by using two Long Wave InfraRed (LWIR) bands centered at 10:8mm and at 12mm. To achieve these objectives a precise control of all the components during the flight is mandatory. The present work is devoted to the evaluation of the spectral and angular response of the microbolometer and filters and a geometrical description of all the components of the IR camera to achieve the proper performances. Once the theoretical study is done, it has to be checked experimentally, determining the involved parameters that have to be taken into account. After this work, we will be able to calculate the CTH of all the clouds in the FOV of the IR camera. CTH is the crucial cloud parameter mandatory for a proper Ultra-High Energy Cosmic Ray (UHECR) and Extremely-High Energy Cosmic Ray (EHECR) analysis.