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1 July 1990Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy: Part II. Advanced technologies
In cooperation with NASA, the West German Minister for Research and Technology
(BMFT) since 1986 has conducted studies to provide an airborne telescope of 2.5 m
aperture for SOFIA, a successor to the extremely successful Gerard Kuiper Airborne
Observatory (KAO). In the decades from the mid-nineties onward, SOFIA could make
available a continuing and readily deployable observation platform at heights
above 12.5 km for sophisticated instrumentation from the submm well into the optical
spectral range.
While the planned SOFIA facility is described in part I, here an overview will be
given of the technical problems involved in developing a large aperture optical
telescope for operation in an open cavity environment of an aircraft flying at
high altitude.
Issues that have been addressed in the project definition phase comprise the figuring
and handling of a 2.7 m thin meniscus mirror with very fast f/ratio 1.2, the
novel support system, the design of the telescope assembly using light weight
composites, the large spherical bearing and the telescope control and drive
system. Some of the aforementioned technicalities are being studied on a subscale
level, others still have to mature until the beginning of the development phase.
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A. Reinhold Ewald, Alois A. Himmes, "Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy: Part II. Advanced technologies," Proc. SPIE 1236, Advanced Technology Optical Telescopes IV, (1 July 1990); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.19183