High Energy Replicated Optics to Explore the Sun balloon-borne telescope: Astrophysical pointing

On September 21st, 2013, the High Energy Replicated Optics to Explore the Sun, or HEROES, balloon-borne x-ray telescope launched from the Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility´s site in Ft. Sumner, NM. The flight lasted for ~27 hours and the observational targets included the Sun and astrophysical sources GRS 1915+105 and the Crab Nebula. Over the past year, the HEROES team upgraded the existing High Energy Replicated Optics (HERO) balloon-borne telescope to make unique scientific measurements of the Sun and astrophysical targets during the same flight. The HEROES Project is a multi-NASA Center effort with team members at both Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) and Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), and is led by Co-PIs (one at each Center). The HEROES payload consists of the hard X-ray telescope HERO, developed at MSFC, combined with several new systems. To allow the HEROES telescope to make observations of the Sun, a new solar aspect system was added to supplement the existing star camera for fine pointing during both the day and night. A mechanical shutter was added to the star camera to protect it during solar observations and two alignment monitoring systems were added for improved pointing and post-flight data reconstruction. This mission was funded by the NASA HOPE (Hands-On Project Experience) Training Opportunity awarded by the NASA Academy of Program/Project and Engineering Leadership, in partnership with NASA´s Science Mission Directorate, Office of the Chief Engineer and Office of the Chief Technologist.