HiPeG: A high performance balloon gondola for fine angular resolution X-ray telescopes

A platform for balloon-borne hard X-ray experiments capable of tens of arcsec pointing accuracy is a necessary condition for the new generation of high angular resolution X-ray telescopes. We have designed a new multi-mission platform in which the attitude determination system is based upon a high performance GPS and a star sensor equipped with a high-dynamic range CCD detector. The device is an autonomous and flexible system which, by means of efficient star identification and tracking algorithms, permits a fine dynamical pointing and reconstruction of the pointing trajectory down to the arcsec level. This paper presents specifications of the gondola and summarizes its characteristics which will be tested in a balloon flight scheduled in near future.