Ms. Virginia G. Ford Profile

Virginia G. Ford

Senior Optomechanical Engineer at Thirty Meter Telescope International Observatory

SPIE Involvement:

Author

Proceedings Article | 24 October 2016 Paper

Fabrication and metrology study for M3MP of TMT

Xiao Luo, Erhui Qi, Haixiang Hu, Haifei Hu, Virginia Ford, Glen Cole

Proceedings Volume 9682, 968209 (2016) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2245801

KEYWORDS: Thirty Meter Telescope, Metrology, Mirrors, Fizeau interferometers, Polishing, Optical fabrication, Autocollimators, 3D modeling, Prototyping, Monochromatic aberrations

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Proceedings Article | 24 October 2016 Paper

Hydraulic supports for polishing TMT M3MP

Haifei Hu, Erhui Qi, Glen Cole, Haixiang Hu, Xiao Luo, Virginia Ford, Xuejun Zhang

Proceedings Volume 9682, 968208 (2016) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2245642

KEYWORDS: Polishing, Mirrors, System integration, Prototyping, Photovoltaics, Telescopes, Mechanics, Optimization (mathematics), Field emission displays, Surface finishing

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Proceedings Article | 24 October 2016 Paper

The application of pentaprism scanning technology on the manufacturing of M3MP

Erhui Qi, Haixiang Hu, Haifei Hu, Glen Cole, Xiao Luo, Virginia Ford, Xuejun Zhang

Proceedings Volume 9682, 96821A (2016) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2245813

KEYWORDS: Thirty Meter Telescope, Mirrors, Manufacturing, Monochromatic aberrations, Optics manufacturing, Autocollimators, Prisms, Telescopes, Polishing, Prototyping

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Proceedings Article | 27 July 2016 Paper

Pre-construction progress of giant steerable science mirror for TMT

Fei Yang, Hongchao Zhao, Qichang An, Peng Guo, Haibo Jiang, Linchu Han, Virginia Ford, Glen Cole, Byron Smith, Marvin Campbell

Proceedings Volume 9906, 99064M (2016) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2232068

KEYWORDS: Thirty Meter Telescope, Mirrors, Prototyping, Telescopes, Polishing, Optical fabrication, Interfaces, Calibration, Motion measurement, Surface finishing

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The Changchun Institute of Optics, Fine Mechanics and Physics (CIOMP) team is developing the Giant Steerable Science Mirror (GSSM) for Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) which will enter the preliminary design phase in 2016. The GSSM is the tertiary mirror of TMT and consists of the world’s largest flat telescope mirror (approximately 3.4m X 2.4 m X 100mm thick) having an elliptical perimeter positioned with an extremely smooth tracking and pointing mechanism in a gravity-varying environment. In order to prepare for developing this unique mirror system, CIOMP has been developing a 1/4 scale, functionally accurate version of the GSSM prototype during the pre-construction phase of GSSM. The prototype will incorporate the same optomechanical system and servo control system as the GSSM. The size of the prototype mirror is 898.5mm×634mm×12.5mm with an elliptical perimeter. The mirror will be supported axially by an 18 point whiffletree and laterally with a 12 point whiffletree. The main objective of the preconstruction phase includes requirement validation and risk reduction for GSSM and to increase confidence that the challenge of developing the GSSM can be met. The precision mechanism system and the optical mirror polishing and testing have made good progress. CIOMP has completed polishing the mirror, the prototype mechanism is nearly assembled, some testing has been performed, and additional testing is being planned and prepared. A dummy mirror is being integrated into the cell assembly prototype to verify the design, analysis and interface and will be used when testing the prototype positioner tilt and rotation motions. The prototype positioner tilt and rotator structures have been assembled and tested to measure each subsystem’s jitter and dynamic motion. The mirror prototype has been polished and tested to verify the polishing specification requirement and the mirror manufacturing process. The complete assembly, integration and verification of the prototype will be soon finished. Final testing will verify the prototype requirements including mounted mirror surface figure accuracy in 5 different orientations; rotation and tilt motion calibration and pointing precision; motion jitter; and internally generated vibrations. CIOMP has scheduled to complete the prototype by the end of July 2016. CIOMP will get the sufficient test results during the pre-construction phase to prepare to enter the preliminary design for GSSM.

Proceedings Article | 19 August 2014 Paper

Jitter studies for the secondary and tertiary mirror systems on the Thirty Meter Telescope

Virginia Ford, Christopher Carter, Christophe Delrez, Pierluigi Fumi, Eric Gabriel, Daniele Gallieni

Proceedings Volume 9151, 91512H (2014) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2055036

KEYWORDS: Mirrors, Telescopes, Adaptive optics, Electronic filtering, Actuators, Computer programming, Linear filtering, Advanced distributed simulations, Control systems, Thirty Meter Telescope

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Proceedings Article | 12 October 2004 Paper

The Terrestrial Planet Finder coronagraph: technology and mission design studies

Virginia Ford, P. Lisman, Stuart Shaklan, John Trauger, Timothy Ho, Daniel Hoppe, Andrew Lowman

Proceedings Volume 5487, (2004) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.551539

KEYWORDS: Coronagraphy, Planets, Stars, Mirrors, Wavefronts, Deformable mirrors, Light scattering, Space telescopes, Systems modeling, Telescopes

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Proceedings Article | 30 September 2004 Paper

Passive thermal compensation of the optical bench of the Galaxy Evolution Explorer

Virginia Ford, Richard Parks, Michelle Coleman

Proceedings Volume 5528, (2004) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.560247

KEYWORDS: Telescopes, Optical benches, Sensors, Space telescopes, Aluminum, Galactic astronomy, Ultraviolet radiation, Diamond turning, Aspheric lenses, Galaxy evolution

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Proceedings Article | 19 November 2003 Paper

Terrestrial Planet Finder coronagraph

Virginia Ford, Anthony Hull, Stuart Shaklan, Marie Levine, Mary White, Andrew Lowman, Eri Cohen

Proceedings Volume 5170, (2003) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.512633

KEYWORDS: Coronagraphy, Mirrors, Planets, Performance modeling, Telescopes, Wavefronts, Stars, Thermal modeling, Light scattering, Space telescopes

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Proceedings Article | 9 September 2002 Paper

Optomechanical design of 10 modular cameras for the Mars exploration rovers

Virginia Ford, Paul Karlmann, Edward Hagerott, Lawrence Scherr

Proceedings Volume 4771, (2002) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.482162

KEYWORDS: Cameras, Sensors, Electronics, Lenses, Optical filters, Mars, Panoramic photography, Assembly tolerances, Imaging systems, Optical fabrication

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Proceedings Article | 28 September 1999 Paper

Optomechanical design of nine cameras for the Earth Observing Systems Multiangle Imaging Spectro-Radiometer, TERRA platform

Virginia Ford, Mary White, Eric Hochberg, James McGown

Proceedings Volume 3786, (1999) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.363804

KEYWORDS: Cameras, Sensors, Temperature metrology, Lens design, Aluminum, Imaging systems, Head, Space operations, Modulation transfer functions, Optomechanical design

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Proceedings Article | 25 August 1993 Paper

Multiangle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) design issues influenced by performance requirements

Carol Bruegge, Mary White, Nadine Chrien, Enrique Villegas, Virginia Ford

Proceedings Volume 1939, (1993) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.152837

KEYWORDS: Cameras, Sensors, Calibration, Polarization, Signal to noise ratio, Optical filters, Optical design, Contamination, Point spread functions, Glasses

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Proceedings Article | 25 August 1993 Paper

Development status of the EOS Multiangle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR)

David Diner, Carol Bruegge, Apostolos Deslis, Virginia Ford, Larry Hovland, Daniel Preston, Mark Shterenberg, Enrique Villegas, Mary White

Proceedings Volume 1939, (1993) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.152836

KEYWORDS: Cameras, Electronics, Charge-coupled devices, Sensors, Calibration, Optical benches, Imaging systems, Optical filters, Diodes, Clouds

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Showing 5 of 12 publications

Conference Committee Involvement (4)

Advances in Optical and Mechanical Technologies for Telescopes and Instrumentation III

10 June 2018 | Austin, Texas, United States

Advances in Optical and Mechanical Technologies for Telescopes and Instrumentation

26 June 2016 | Edinburgh, United Kingdom

Advances in Optical and Mechanical Technologies for Telescopes and Instrumentation Posters

26 June 2016 | Edinburgh, United Kingdom

Optomechanics 2005

3 August 2005 | San Diego, California, United States

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