Engineering topics
Publications and source records attributed to Zehnpfenning, T. F..
Sun-sensor optical system uses four pairs of pentaprisms to simplify alinement and reduce mechanical-stability requirements. Cross-shaped windows in field stop enhance sensitivity of signal detectors to changes in angular position. Two virtual images viewed by telescopes mark position and orientation of occulter panel. Reflector vertex, point source and corresponding virtual image are all equally spaced along a straight line.
The Pinhole X-ray/Coronagraph Concept utilizes the long baselines possible in Earth orbit with the space transportation system (shuttle) to produce observations of solar X-ray emission features at extremely high spatial resolution (up to 0.1 arc second) and high energy (up to 100 keV), and also white light and UV observations of the inner and outer corona at high spatial and/or spectral resolution. An examination of various aspects of a preliminary version of the X-ray Pinhole/Coronagraph Concept is presented. For this preliminary version, the instrument package will be carried in the shuttle bay on a mounting platform, and will be connected to the occulter with a deployable boom such as an Astromast. Generally, the spatial resolution, stray light levels, and minimum limb observing angles improve as the boom length increases. However, the associated engineering problems also become more serious with greater boom lengths.