Brrison Ir Camera (Birc)

BIRC is a multispectral infrared imager designed to operate in 8 bandpasses between 2.5 and 5.0 mu m utilizing a cryocooled HgCdTe detector and empty set80 cm telescope. The instrument was flown on a ballooncraft platform and operated in a near-space environment. BIRC was designed to measure the water and CO2 emissions from the comet ISON. The system produces an f/4 image over a field of view of 3 arcminutes, and employs shift/co-add algorithms to observe dim objects. An innovative thermal design holds the system components in separate vacuum and atmospheric zones which are independent of the neighboring instrument deck. This paper summarizes the design, test and integration of the BIRC instrument.