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NASA NTRS1997

SOFIA Science Working Group

The SOFIA Science Working Group was established to help develop the plans and specifications for the next-generation airborne observatory ("SOFIA"), which is now under development. The P.I. has developed several astronomical instruments for the Kuiper Airborne Observatory, NASA's previous airborne astronomy platform (which was decommisioned in 1995 in preparation for SOFIA). SOFIA, which will be a 747 SP aircraft carrying a 2.7 meter diameter telescope, is a joint project sponsored by NASA and DLR (the German space agency), and is now under development by a consortium including Universities Space Research Association (USRA), Raytheon, Sterling Software, and United Airlines. Rather than develop the SOFIA observatory in-house, NASA decided to privatize the project by issuing a Request for Proposals (RFP). The respondents to this RFP were consortia of private organizations which together had the required facilities and expertise to be able to carry out the project; the winner was the group led by USRA. One of the main roles of the SSWG was to help develop the technical specifications for the SOFIA observatory. In particular, the SSWG provided advice to NASA on the specifications that were written into the RFP, particularly those which had an important impact on the scientific productivity of the observatory. These specifications were discussed at the meetings of the SSWG, which were held primarily at NASA/Ames (in California) and at NASA Headquarters (in Washington DC). Apart from these meetings, members of the SSWG were expected to perform more detailed analyses of the impact of certain parameters and specifications on the performance of astronomical instruments. The SSWG ended its activities with the selection of the USRA team in January 1997.

Zmuldzinas, J.↗
NASA NTRS2015

Status of the SOFIA Observatory

The SOFIA observatory has been in routine science operations since returning in January from a 6 month-long heavy maintenance period for the aircraft and the telescope assembly. These operations include a successful 6 week deployment to the Southern hemisphere. This presentation will provide an update to the current operational status of the SOFIA observatory, concentrating on the improvements and upgrades that have been implemented since the heavy maintenance period.

Infrared astronomy↗
NASA NTRS2019

NASA Armstrong (AFRC) Human Factors Program

Armstrong Flight Research Center is NASA’s premier flight research center. It is located on Edwards AFB in the high desert of California. The AFRC Safety and Mission Assurance Directorates Human Factors Program is one tool that enables Armstrong to be the national center of excellence for conducting leading edge aerospace flight research, airborne science, and airborne astronomy by providing responsive, effective, and adaptive Safety & Mission Assurance support. The AFRC Human Factors Specialist is also a member of the Agency Human Factors Task Force which provides and expands the understanding and impact of Human Factors across the Agency. The Program is managed by the Office of Safety and Mission Assurance at NASA Headquarters.

Kiriokos, Nick C.↗
NASA NTRS1983

Long wavelength photoconductive detectors for airborne and orbital infrared astronomy

Seven gallium doped germanium (Ge:Ga) photoconductive infrared detectors were fabricated and mounted in integrating cavities. In addition, a cold preamplifier package consisting of J230 junction field effect transistors (JFETs) was produced. Tests of the system under low photon background conditions indicated that sensitivity was limited by the Johnson noise of the load resistor. The detectors were mounted in the Ames cooled grating spectrometer, and flown on the Kuiper Airborne Observatory. Good quality astronomical data were obtained during the flight of 7 July 1983.

Houck, J. R.↗
NASA NTRS1997

Far-Infrared Astronomy with The Kuiper Airborne Observatory

This report summarizes work made possible by NASA's Kuiper Airborne Observatory. The results of the work have appeared in over 80 papers. The publications fall in three main areas: instrumentation, observations, and analysis. Although there is considerable overlap between these categories it will be convenient to group them separately.

Hildebrand, Roger, H.↗
NASA NTRS1980

Infrared Fourier spectrometer for airborne and ground-based astronomy

A unique high resolving power near-infrared, astronomical Fourier spectrometer has been constructed for use at both ground-based and airborne telescopes. Its capabilities include a limiting resolution of 0.01/cm and spectral coverage over the InSb detector sensitivity region (0.8-5.6 micron). The instrument is optimized for operation in environments inaccessible to other high-resolution Fourier spectrometers, namely, the Cassegrain focuses of conventional telescopes and the NASA Kuiper Airborne Observatory's 91-cm telescope. Details of the spectrometer are discussed, and various astronomical and laboratory spectra are presented.

Davis, D. S.↗
NASA NTRS1977

Spherical lamellar grating interferometer for airborne astronomical observations of far infrared objects

A lamellar-grating interferometer designed for airborne IR astronomy is described, and its response to a laboratory far-IR source and to Jupiter as viewed from NASA's Kuiper Airborne Observatory is discussed. The theory of lamellar-grating interferometers is reviewed, advantages over Michelson interferometers are noted, and the optical arrangement for the lamellar-grating instrument is indicated. The response of the instrument is illustrated using purged and unpurged spectra of a 1000-K blackbody source as well as a raw spectrum of Jupiter containing many absorption features (probably telluric) identified with rotation bands of H2O. It is noted that the interferometer's self-collimation allows for efficient operation with a minimum of auxiliary optics.

Pipher, J. L.↗
NASA NTRS2018

SCI 236 AGARDograph: National Aeronautics and Space Administration Armstrong Flight Research Center Annex - Part Two

NASA AFRC is a United States government entity that conducts the integration and operation of new and unproven technologies into proven flight vehicles as well as the flight test of one-of-a-kind experimental aircraft. AFRC also maintains and operates several platform aircraft that allow the integration of a wide range of sensors to conduct airborne remote sensing, science observations and airborne infrared astronomy. To support these types of operations AFRC has the organization, facilities and tools to support the experimental flight test of unique vehicles and conduct airborne sensing/observing.

AGARDgraph↗
NASA NTRS1994

The Next Generation Airborne Observatory: SOFIA

NASA, DARA, and the astronomical community have planned SOFIA (Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy) to extend and expand the capabilities of airborne astronomy. Just as the Kuiper Airborne Observatory telescope has three times the aperture of its Learjet predecessor, SOFIA's aperture (2.5 m) will be three times that of the KAO. Thus SOFIA will surpass the angular resolution of the KAO by a factor of three and its per-pixel sensitivity by a factor approximately 10 at wavelengths beyond 10 micrometers. Following the tradition of the KAO and Learjet programs, the user community will provide most of the SOFIA focal plane instruments. Scientists will fly their new instruments as soon as they become operational, assuring immediate application of state-of-the-art technology throughout the anticipated 20 year observatory lifetime. Annual peer review of submitted proposals guarantees a vigorous observing program. Armed by 15-20 different instrument teams, reinforced by an additional approximately 50 guest investigator groups, and flying 160 8-hour sorties per year, SOFIA will be used to attack a very broad range of astronomical problems. To name just a few, observations made from SOFIA will: greatly extend our understanding of the star-formation process, including collapse, accretion, and outflow phenomena; penetrate the obscuring dust of the Milky way to reveal gas motions, the luminosity distribution, and possibly the powerful excitation mechanism at the center of our Galaxy; and probe km-scale structure of planetary atmospheres and ring systems. The Astronomy and Astrophysics Survey (Bahcall) committee ranked SOFIA as the highest priority moderate cost new mission for NASA in the 1990s. SOFIA has been thoroughly studied and is ready to start development. If funding is available in 1996 as currently planned by NASA and DARA Astrophysics Offices, SOFIA could be flying by the end of the decade.

Erickson, E. F.↗
NASA NTRS1973

A real-time computer for monitoring a rapid-scanning Fourier spectrometer

A real-time Fourier computer has been designed and tested as part of the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory's program of airborne infrared astronomy using Fourier spectroscopy. The value and versatility of this device are demonstrated with specific examples of laboratory and in-flight applications.

Michel, G.↗
NASA NTRS1976

Electromagnetic reflection and transmission at interfaces involving graded dielectrics with applications to planetary radar astronomy

Reflection and transmission of electromagnetic waves at an interface between two homogeneous materials is modified when a transition zone of linearly increasing permittivity is inserted between the half spaces. Mathematical expressions for reflection and transmission coefficients are derived for waves at arbitrary incidence angles and polarized either in or perpendicular to the plane of incidence. Discontinuities in permittivity at the transition-zone boundaries are allowed. There is efficient transmission between the two half-spaces for transition-zone thicknesses of a wavelength or greater. For sharper changes, the matching layer has diminishing effect and the wave-interface interaction is characterized by the difference in properties between the two half-spaces. Examples applicable to lunar radar astronomy and airborne terrestrial remote sensing are used to illustrate the relationship between wavelength and thickness of the transition layer.

Simpson, R. A.↗
NASA NTRS2012

In-Flight Performance of the Water Vapor Monitor Onboard the Sofia Observatory

NASA's Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) airborne observatory flies in a modified B747-SP aircraft in the lower stratosphere above more than 99.9% of the Earth's water vapor. As low as this residual water vapor is, it will still affect SOFIA's infrared and sub-millimeter astronomical observations. As a result, a heterodyne instrument has been developed to observe the strength and shape of the 1830Hz rotational line of water, allowing measurements of the integrated water vapor overburden in flight. In order to be useful in correcting the astronomical signals, the required measured precipitable water vapor accuracy must be 2 microns or better, 3 sigma, and measured at least once a minute. The Water Vapor Monitor has flown 22 times during the SOFIA Early Science shared-risk period. The instrument water vapor overburden data obtained were then compared with concurrent data from GOES-V satellites to perform a preliminary calibration of the measurements. This presentation will cover the.results of these flights. The final flight calibration necessary to reach the required accuracy will await subsequent flights following the SOFIA observatory upgrade that is taking place during the spring and summer of 2012.

Roellig, Thomas L.↗
NASA NTRS1990

SOFIA: The Stratospheric Observatory For Infrared Astronomy

SOFIA, an airborne observatory intended to be carried aboard a Boeing 747 high performance aircraft, is described. The observatory is predicted to provide a threefold greater aperture than that of the Kuiper telescope. The Boeing aircraft will carry the 2.5 diameter telescope and its observers to altitudes of 14,000 and above where the atmosphere is very nearly transparent at all wavelengths. Various aspects and specific missions of the SOFIA project, a cooperative venture of the U.S. and Germany, are described.

Hildebrand, Roger H.↗
NASA NTRS1996

SOFIA: The Next Airborne Observatory

SOFIA (Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy) will be a telescope with 2.5 m effective aperture operating at altitudes of 12.5 to 13.7 km in a Boeing 747 aircraft. It will enable astronomers on board to make observations which are impossible from the ground at wavelengths between 0.3 microns and 1.5 mm. Diffraction-limited imaging will be possible at wavelengths beyond about 10 microns. SOFIA's mobility will assure all-sky coverage and access to transient events from anywhere in the world. Some of the science topics to be studied will be star and planet formation, origin and evolution of biogenic materials, comets and planetary atmospheres in the solar system, the interstellar media of other galaxies, and phenomena at our galactic center. The SOFIA concept is based on 21 years of experience with NASA's Kuiper Airborne Observatory (KAO), which has been retired to help fund the project. As with the KAO, state-of-the-art focal plane instruments and a vigorous educational outreach program will be features of this new airborne astronomy facility. A more intensive flight program, approximately 150 flights per year, will accommodate many more guest investigators however. Planned as a collaboration between the United States and Germany, SOFIA is scheduled to begin a 20 year operating lifetime in 2001.

Erickson, E. F.↗
NASA NTRS1985

Focal plane optics in far-infrared and submillimeter astronomy

The construction of airborne observatories, high mountain-top observatories, and space observatories designed especially for infrared and submillimeter astronomy has opened fields of research requiring new optical techniques. A typical far-IR photometric study involves measurement of a continuum spectrum in several passbands between approx 30 microns and 1000 microns and diffraction-limited mapping of the source. At these wavelengths, diffraction effects strongly influence the design of the field optics systems which couple the incoming flux to the radiation sensors (cold bolometers). The Airy diffraction disk for a typical telescope at submillimeter wavelengths approx 100 microns-1000 microns is many millimeters in diameter; the size of the field stop must be comparable. The dilute radiation at the stop is fed through a Winston nonimaging concentrator to a small cavity containing the bolometer. The purpose of this paper is to review the principles and techniques of infrared field optics systems, including spectral filters, concentrators, cavities, and bolometers (as optical elements), with emphasis on photometric systems for wavelengths longer than 60 microns.

Hildebrand, R. H.↗
NASA NTRS1986

Focal plane optics in far-infrared and submillimeter astronomy

The construction of airborne observatories, high mountain-top observatories, and space observatories designed especially for infrared and submillimeter astronomy has opened fields of research requiring new optical techniques. A typical far-IR photometric study involves measurement of a continuum spectrum in several passbands between approx 30 microns and 1000 microns and diffraction-limited mapping of the source. At these wavelengths, diffraction effects strongly influence the design of the field optics systems which couple the incoming flux to the radiation sensors (cold bolometers). The Airy diffraction disk for a typical telescope at submillimeter wavelengths approx 100 microns-1000 microns is many millimeters in diameter; the size of the field stop must be comparable. The dilute radiation at the stop is fed through a Winston nonimaging concentrator to a small cavity containing the bolometer. The purpose of this paper is to review the principles and techniques of infrared field optics systems, including spectral filters, concentrators, cavities, and bolometers (as optical elements), with emphasis on photometric systems for wavelengths longer than 60 microns.

Hildebrand, R. H.↗