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SOFIA

Technicians position the transport cradle as a crane lowers SOFIA's primary mirror assembly into place prior to finish coating of the mirror at NASA Ames.

 
Photo Number: ED08-0041-181
Photo Date: April 18, 2008
 
Formats: 640x612 JPEG Image (330 KBytes)
1280x1223 JPEG Image (1080 KBytes)
3000x2866 JPEG Image (5320 KBytes)
 
Photo
Description:
Technicians at the NASA Dryden Aircraft Operations Facility in Palmdale, Calif., removed the German-built primary mirror assembly from the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, or SOFIA, April 18, 2008 in preparation for the final finish coating of the mirror. A precision crane lifted the more than two-ton mirror assembly from its cavity in the rear fuselage of the highly modified Boeing 747SP. The assembly was then secured in its transport dolly and moved to a clean room where it was prepared for shipment to NASA Ames Research Center at Moffett Field near Mountain View, Calif. where it would receive its aluminized finish coating before being re-installed in the SOFIA aircraft.
 
Project
Description:
NASA's Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) is being developed as a world-class observatory complementing the Hubble Space Telescope. The observatory, which features a German-built 98.4-inch (2.5 meter) diameter infrared telescope weighing 20 metric tons mounted in a highly-modified Boeing 747SP aircraft, has begun its flight test phase in a joint program by NASA and DLR Deutsches Zentrum fur Luft und Raumfahrt (German Aerospace Center). Major aircraft modifications and installation of the telescope was performed by L-3 Communications Integrated Systems facility at Waco, Texas. Systems integration and flight test operations are being conducted at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. SOFIA's science and mission operations are managed jointly by the Universities Space Research Association (USRA) and the Deutsches SOFIA Institut (DSI), and are based at NASA's Ames Research Center at Moffett Field near San Jose, Calif. Once operational, SOFIA will be the world's primary infrared observatory during a mission lasting up to 20 years, as well as an outstanding laboratory for developing and testing instrumentation and detector technology.
 
NASA Photo by: Tony Landis
 
Keywords: SOFIA, Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, primary mirror assembly removal, final finish coating, 747SP aircraft, German-built infrared telescope, Dryden Flight Operations Facility, Palmdale, Calif., Polaris, North Star, Clipper Lindbergh, German-built 100-inch (2.5 meter) diameter infrared telescope, 20 tons, highly-modified Boeing 747SP aircraft, DLR Deutsches Zentrum fuer Luft- und Raumfahrt (German Aerospace Center), L-3 Communications Integrated Systems, Universities Space Research Association, USRA, Deutsches SOFIA Institut, DSI
 


Last Modified: April 24, 2008
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