Montreal Space Symposium

The High-Contrast Imaging Balloon System (HiCIBaS) is a proof-of-concept balloon-borne telescope project that had four objectives: develop and test a custom low-order wavefront sensor (LOWFS), measure and gather data on wavefront instabilities and errors at high altitudes in the visible spectrum, develop and test a sub-milli-arcsecond pointing system, and give high-altitude flight heritage to the LOWFS, deformable mirror (developed by Iris AO) and EMCCD cameras (provided by Nüvü Cameras). It was developed by Université Laval, along with numerous collaborators, and was launched under the CSA’s STRATOS program in August of 2018 from Timmins, Ontario. The “big picture” goal of this project was to characterize the atmosphere and validate the instruments, techniques and concepts used so that they can be employed for future exoplanet-studying missions.