McGill University|Université McGill

Purpose

This project aims to elucidate cosmic dawn and the dark ages through observations of the radio sky with two custom-built telescopes in the Canadian high Arctic: the Mapper of the Intergalactic medium Spin Temperature (MIST) and the Array of Long Baseline Antennas for Taking Radio Observations from the Seventy-ninth parallel (ALBATROS). These telescopes will advance scientific knowledge while simultaneously serving as platforms for prototyping instrumentation and measurement techniques for future space missions. The project objectives focus on in-depth calibration tests using MIST and ALBATROS. The resulting deliverables include improved constraints on cosmic dawn and the dark ages, and new techniques for characterizing instrumental effects that arise from environmental interactions.