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Ground crewmen prepare to load the crated SOFIA primary mirror assembly into an Air Force C-17 for shipment to NASA Ames Research Center for finish coating. |
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| Photo Number: |
ED08-0110-14 |
| Photo Date: |
May 1, 2008 |
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| Formats: |
358x640 JPEG Image (121 KBytes)
716x1280 JPEG Image (310 KBytes)
1679x3000 JPEG Image (1306 KBytes)
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Photo
Description: |
Technicians at NASA's Dryden Aircraft Operations Facility in Palmdale, Calif., loaded the German-built primary mirror assembly of the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, or SOFIA, onto an Air Force C-17 for shipment to NASA's Ames Research Center on May 1, 2008. In preparation for the final finish coating of the mirror, the more than two-ton mirror assembly had been removed from its cavity in the rear fuselage of the highly modified SOFIA Boeing 747SP two weeks earlier. After arrival at NASA Ames at Moffett Field near Mountain View, Calif., the mirror would receive its aluminized finish coating before being re-installed in the SOFIA aircraft. |
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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. |
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| NASA Photo by: |
Tony Landis |
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| Keywords: |
SOFIA, Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, primary mirror assembly removal, final finish coating, C-17, 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 |
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