Flannery, J. V. | Search NASA

NASA NTRS1980

Holography on the NASA Space Shuttle

The SL-3 flight on the Space Shuttle will carry a 25 mW He-Ne laser holographic recorder for recording the solution growth of triglycine sulfate (TGS) crystals under low-zero gravity conditions. Three hundred holograms (two orthogonal views) will be taken (on SO-253 film) of each growth experiment. Processing and analysis (i.e., reconstructed imagery, holographic schlieren, reverse reference beam microscopy, and stored beam interferometry) of the holographic records will be done at NASA/MSFC. Other uses of the recorder on the Shuttle have been proposed.

Wuerker, R. F.↗

NASA NTRS1973

Feasibility test for a V-slit star mapper for pioneer spacecraft terminal navigation

A laboratory demonstration of the feasibility of using a V-slit star mapper to meet the sensitivity and accuracy of on-board navigational requirements for future Pioneer Missions to the outer planets was conducted by the Control and Sensors Laboratory of TRW. The breadboard was extremely simple in configuration, consisting of an end-on photomultiplier tube and a V-slit reticle located at the focal plane of the objective lens. In addition, a plano-convex lens was used between the reticle and the PMT in a Fabry-Perot configuration. The analytical effort indicated that the sensor should easily meet the requirements. The Pioneer SRA test set was examined to determine its basic accuracy and modify it where necessary to bring its accuracy into the 1-3 arc second range. The test results show that it is feasible to use this type of star mapper in the 10 arc second accuracy range. The test equipment accuracy (approximately 5 arc Sec) was sufficient to bound the sensor errors at less than 10 arc seconds.

Gates, R. F.↗