Deutsches SOFIA Institut (DSI) at the SOFIA Science Center: engineering and scientific contributions to the airborne observatory

Wolf, Jürgen; Colditz, Sebastian; Lachenmann, Michael; Pfüller, Enrico; Schindler, Karsten; Wiedemann, Manuel; Zinnecker, H.; Krabbe, A.

doi:10.1117/12.2237207

Cited by 3 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…The working principle of the star tracker. 表 1 几个典型的星敏感器参数 [11] : 图 3 (网络版彩图)SOFIA望远镜上各星敏感器的布局 [10] Figure 3 (Color online) The layout of star trackers on the SOFIA telescope [10].…”

Section: 大型射电望远镜的指向问题unclassified

The application of star trackers in radio telescope pointing measurement

Yuan

Liu

2019

Sci. Sin.-Phys. Mech. Astron.

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Section: 大型射电望远镜的指向问题unclassified

The application of star trackers in radio telescope pointing measurement

Yuan

Liu

2019

Sci. Sin.-Phys. Mech. Astron.

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“…SOFIAoptical telescope uses FPI, FFI and WFI star sensors. In order to improve pointing stability, WFI and FFI are mounted on the main mirror frame; ESA's Sentinel-2 satellite push-broom multi-spectral camera, in order to achieve the geometric positioning requirements of 20 m without ground control points, a star tracker is installed directly on the main bearing structure of the camera to ensure the best pointing performance of the telescope [13,14]. However, there is no publicly available literature on how to improve the pointing accuracy of high-resolution optical remote sensors for large imaging field-of-view Three-Mirror Anastigmatic (TMA) optical systems.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Method and Implementation of Improving the Pointing Accuracy of an Optical Remote Sensor Using a Star Sensor

Liu¹,

He²,

Fengwei³

et al. 2019

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Based on the analysis of the pointing accuracy of the optical sensor in a star sensor, this paper introduces the geometric accuracy of the star sensor as an external orientation element that affects the optical remote sensing image and analyzes the characteristics of the installation method of the star sensor in different optical remote sensors. The key factors affecting the pointing accuracy of the star sensor are considered, and the geometrical accuracy of the image is improved by analyzing the installation method of the star sensor, the star sensor bracket design, and the star sensor thermal control component. Achievable measures are made, and the pointing stability of the star sensor is verified through a ground test and by measuring the temperature fluctuations of the orbiting sensor. Through ground testing and on-orbit testing, the star sensor bracket has a temperature fluctuation of <1 ℃ in one photography cycle, and the star sensor's attitude error around the axis is less than 5", so the uncontrolled geometric positioning accuracy of the image product can be obtained as 11.4 m (rms).

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“…Stoe®ler & Heydenreich (2000); Erdmann et al (2000); Sust et al (2003); Wandner (2003); Bittner et al (2004). In the following years, a number of improvements to parts of the system done by DSI were also described in various conference papers; summaries are provided in Wolf et al (2016) and Reinacher et al (2016a).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The SOFIA Telescope in Full Operation

Reinacher

Graf

Greiner

et al. 2018

J. Astron. Instrum.

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The SOFIA telescope is a 2.5[Formula: see text]m class Cassegrain telescope with Nasmyth focus. It is the largest telescope ever integrated into an aircraft. The telescope is exposed to the stratospheric environment during the observations and the fact that the telescope’s foundation, which is a Boeing 747 SP, is vibrating and moving in all degrees of freedom (DoF) requires a highly specialized and sophisticated design. Based on the telescope of its predecessor, the Kuiper Airborne Observatory (KAO), the SOFIA telescope design had to evolve to accommodate a telescope 2.5 times the size of KAO. In several hundred successful observation flights, the telescope proved that it performs not only as specified, but is also extremely reliable. Nevertheless, the telescope’s software and hardware are continuously upgraded to optimize its performance without interfering with the observation schedules to reach even more ambitious image size and pointing jitter goals to enable additional science cases. In addition, manufacturing of the line-replaceable units is in process to ensure that the SOFIA telescope can perform without any major interruptions for the envisioned 20 year lifetime. Some of the main features of the SOFIA telescope are its suspension assembly (SUA), which decouples the telescope from SOFIA’s fuselage with air springs and a spherical oil bearing, the extremely stiff Nasmyth tube (NT), which connects cavity and cabin mounted components of the dumbbell design, and the Secondary Mirror Assembly (SMA), which is used for chopping and fast pointing corrections. This paper aims to give an overview of these and all other major telescope subsystems in operation today. In addition, some of the upgrades, either implemented recently or slated for implementation shortly, are introduced.

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Deutsches SOFIA Institut (DSI) at the SOFIA Science Center: engineering and scientific contributions to the airborne observatory

Cited by 3 publications

References 3 publications

The application of star trackers in radio telescope pointing measurement

The application of star trackers in radio telescope pointing measurement

Method and Implementation of Improving the Pointing Accuracy of an Optical Remote Sensor Using a Star Sensor

The SOFIA Telescope in Full Operation

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