Solar Eclipse 2024 - Imaging systems on NASA's WB57 aircraft

(Translated by ChatGPT 3.5)

Following the successful deployment of our Kite Spectrometer platform during the 2023 solar eclipse in Australia, we developed an imaging system for the Solar Wind Sherpas' expedition 2024 to capture images of the 2024 solar eclipse in the USA from an altitude of 15 km using NASA's WB57 aircraft. At this altitude, atmospheric disturbances are significantly reduced and no clouds are expected.

For the two spearpods on the right and left wings, we designed a gimbal system that uses camera-based tracking to center the sun in the frame of two cameras each and withstand the extreme external conditions at 15 km altitude. The tracking of the gimbals could be monitored and controlled from the ground via a satellite link.

For the nose of the aircraft, we designed an instrument with two spectrometers for visible and UV light. The nose is rotatable and was aimed at the sun by the Scientific Experiment Operator in the back seat of the aircraft during the solar eclipse.

This project was also funded by NASA and comprised an international team from the Institute for Astronomy and Hawaii Space Flight Laboratory at the University of Hawai'i, Justen Engineering, Institute for Technical Physics e.V., and the WB57 team.