Balloon based telescopes represent an opportunity to observe science in an environment with almost no atmospheric effects. However, balloon based platforms include a wide range of thermal environments as well as pointing a lightweight telescope over a large elevation range. The Gondola for High Altitude Planetary Science (GHAPS) was designed to provide nearly diffraction limited performance observations over the visible and infrared spectrum with a 1- meter aperture. To achieve such performance, detailed Structural Thermal Optical Performance (STOP) was used to predict telescope performance. Software was built to automate the process of analysis, enabling thermal, structural and optical analyses to be executed quickly with less effort. The end result was the capability to analyze both generic operating conditions and Design Reference Mission conditions, producing predictions that could be used to evaluate the quality of science return.

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Brian Catanzaro, Thomas Brooks, Will Johnson, Brian O'Connor, Robert Woodruff, Ryan Edwards, Evan Racine, Lucas Paganini, Eliot Young, Nicolas Gorius, Leigh Elrod, and Monica Hoffmann, "STOP modeling in support of a 1-meter aperture balloon based telescope," Proc. SPIE 10705, Modeling, Systems Engineering, and Project Management for Astronomy VIII, 1070515 (Presented at SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation: June 12, 2018; Published: 10 July 2018); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2312312.