If you want on or off my aerospace ping list, please contact me by Freep mail.
Posted on 02/10/2007 2:12:28 PM PST by BenLurkin
EDWARDS AFB - NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center has awarded a contract to L-3 Communications Integrated Systems, L.P., of Waco, Texas, for continued developmental and engineering work on the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy. The cost-plus-award-fee contract could be worth up to $26 million over a five-year period if all options are exercised. The contract took effect Friday, with a 23-month base period extending through Dec. 31, 2008. Three one-year option periods could extend the agreement from Jan. 1, 2009, to Dec. 31, 2011.
The tasks that remain for completion of the SOFIA airborne observatory platform involve two major parts, the Airborne System and the Cavity Door Drive System. L-3 Communications will be responsible for completing development and testing of the Airborne System, including modification, fabrication, installation, integration, and verification of various systems to meet SOFIA mission requirements. In addition, L-3 is also tasked with providing engineering support and technical representation to NASA as necessary to support transition from development to operations.
The SOFIA program includes a high-altitude airborne observatory consisting of a 2.5-meter (100-inch) infrared telescope mounted in a cavity in the rear fuselage of a highly modified Boeing 747SP jetliner. Scientific instruments mounted in the observatory will be capable of celestial observations ranging from visible light through the sub-millimeter far-infrared spectrum. SOFIA is being developed jointly by NASA and the Deutsches Zentrum fuer Luft und Raumfahrt (German Aerospace Center).
(Excerpt) Read more at avpress.com ...
If you want on or off my aerospace ping list, please contact me by Freep mail.
Infrared? On a 747? Why?
Will it be able to shoot?
Because the mirror is designed to be big as possible and fit in the empenage of a 747. This isn't an ordinary 747, it is a 747SP which is a shortened version of the 747-100B capable of flying longer ranges at higher altitudes. It can cruise at altitudes up to 51,000 feet where the air is thinner. Also at those high altitudes there is little water vapor in the atmosphere to interfere with the infrared observatory.
I'm still confused. Is it still like a passenger craft inside? What is the function of this craft?
Basically, it will replace Hubble telescope.
COOL!!!!
It's a NASA research aircraft. Originally it was a Pan Am and later United Airlines passenger 747SP used for long range routes back before the 747-400 or MD-11 were available. The empennage section is unpressurized and holds the telescope. There is a pressure bulkhead built between the passenger cabin and the telescope bay that allows the front of the plane to have passengers, work stations, and equipment that support the operation of the telescope. When the telescope is in operation there is actually a large hole open in the empennage of the plane.
I'm sure NASA got this plane cheap. Once more efficient planes like the 747-400, that had the same range but lower seat mile costs, became available, most of the 747SP's were retired by the airlines. Only 45 747SP's were ever built and less than half of those are still flying.
Ah, replace the Hubble. With infrared, it will have greater power for detection of [?] right?
It doesn't replace the Hubble. It does have a mirror that's about the same size as the Hubble mirror. The Hubble's time is very heavily subscribed, and it will be updated in a 2008 shuttle flight, and another space telescope will be launched after that. The SOFIA aircraft will have much more time available for infrared astronmy and can be flown anwhere in the world which comes in handy if an astromical event is only visible from the southern hemisphere. Due to the fact that the newest SOFIA platform is a 747, it has lots of room for scientists and equipment compared to previous platforms like the C-141A prototype plane.
I presume that it's also able to get to another location far more quickly than the hubble! :D
747-SP
Former United Airlines plane.
Interesting. Thanks!
Very cool!
The most important difference is that it has a primary mirror 3 times the size of the Kuiper Airborne Observatory.
Which was about as big a telescope as could be fit in a C-141. Being the C-141 prototype, there were enough idiosyncracies in its configuration to make it not worthwhile to convert to the stretched C-141B configuration. It was one of just a handful of surviving C-141A's to not be converted back in the late 1970's early 1980's.
Sadly, that aircraft sits out in the weather at Moffett Field, CA. Most of the C-141's have been chopped up...I wonder if there are any more A models left?
I seriously doubt it would have as it would have been an oddball in the C-141B fleet. If it was going to be a uniquely configured plane, it made sense for NASA to have it.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
