Unique Application of Plastics and Composite Materials in the Design of the Magnetometer
The JPL magnetometer design for the Ulysses solar polar mission is the first to explore the.
Engineering topics
Publications and source records attributed to Noller, E. W..
The JPL magnetometer design for the Ulysses solar polar mission is the first to explore the.
This paper describes the modification of a three-electron-beam (EB) gun system for vacuum depositing a highly reflective aluminum coating on a 7.01-m (23-ft) -diam nickel-plated aluminum collimating mirror. The mirror is part of the JPL 7.62-m space simulator that was recently modernized with a new high vacuum pumping system, solar lamp power supplies, solar optic lens system, and refurbished collimating mirror. The 7.01-m 12,700-kg (14-ton) spherical collimating mirror was removed from this facility for replating with 381 micron (0.015 in.) of electroless nickel and polished to a specular finish for realuminizing. The space chamber served as the vacuum coating vessel for the realuminizing coating process. The mirror is the primary reflector for the solar simulation system and the aluminized reflective surface is its most critical performance element. The uniformity of thickness and high reflectivity of the coating in visible and near-ultraviolet (UV) light governs the accuracy of the beam for solar testing. The uniformity of the thin-film thickness also controls the durability of the mirror over time. The mirror was polished to a 64-percent reflectivity with a uniformity of 1.5 percent. The performance goal for the aluminizing was 89 percent with +/- 0.5-percent variation over the mirror.
New antenna reflector integrates several fabrication techniques of optical and composite constraining materials. Reflector is composed of machined aluminum reflector tiles attached to graphite/epoxy structure with aluminum flexures.
Development of a high accuracy spherical microwave reflector to support contour RMS and pointing requirements for a new series of space instruments is reported. The reflector system is composed of precision machined aluminum tile reflectors supported from a eutectic coated graphite epoxy structure by flexures. Several basic technologies have been integrated into a manufacturing process that accommodates fabrication techniques of both optical and composite constraints. The optical figure and its change due to thermal gradient was measured in a thermal vacuum environment with a Ronchi system. The radiometer system is in support of the Microwave Limb Sounder, an experiment to measure emissions from earth's atmospheric limb thus obtaining wind, temperature, pressure and chemical composition measurements.
Aluminizing 7.01-m collimating mirror for JPL 7.62-m space simulator
RF voltage breakdown facility for studying spacecraft antenna characteristics in space and planetary atmosphere environments
Electron beam gun technique for aluminizing large collimating mirror