A document discusses a proposal to use axially stretched metal nanolaminate membranes as lightweight parabolic cylindrical reflectors in the Dual Anamorphic Reflector Telescope (DART) — a planned spaceborne telescope in which the cylindrical reflectors would be arranged to obtain a point...

A document discusses a broadband (white light) point source, located at the telescope Cassegrain focus, which generates a cone of light limited by the hole in the secondary mirror (SM). It propagates to the aspheric null-mirror, which is optimized to make all the reflected rays to be normal to the...

Researchers have demonstrated a sub-millimeter-wave spectrometer that combines extremely broad bandwidth with extremely high sensitivity and spectral resolution to enable future spacecraft to measure the composition of the Earth’s troposphere in three dimensions many times per day at...

PseudoDiversity is a method of recovering the wavefront in a sparse- or segmented-aperture optical system typified by an interferometer or a telescope equipped with an adaptive primary mirror consisting of controllably slightly moveable segments. (PseudoDiversity should not be confused...

Electrostrictive ceramic actuators that can function at low temperatures have been developed for controlling the shapes of mirrors in the Next Generation Space Telescope (NGST). On Earth, electrostrictive ceramic actuators may be useful for fine control of the positions of objects in...

A method allows combining the functions of a heater and a thermometer in a single device, a thermistor, with minimal temperature read errors. Because thermistors typically have a much smaller thermal mass than the objects they monitor, the thermal...

A dual-channel telescope allows for a wide-field telescope design with a good, narrow field channel of fewer surfaces for shorter-wavelength or planet-finding applications. The design starts with a Korsch three-mirror-anastigmat (TMA) telescope that meets the mission criteria for image quality over a wide field...

A document describes cryogenic test architecture for the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) integrated science instrument module (ISIM). The ISIM element primarily consists of a mechanical metering structure, three science instruments, and a fine guidance sensor. One of the...

An interferometer objective lens (or diverger) may be used to transform a collimated beam into a diverging or converging beam. A typical objective lens is optimized to deliver a diffraction-limited beam to an optic or optical system under test. Often, imaging...

To reject solar radiation photons at the front aperture for large telescopes, a mosaic of large transmission mode filters is placed in front of the telescope or at the aperture of the dome. Filtering options for effective rejection of sunlight include a smaller filter down-path near the focus of the...

To reject solar radiation photons at the front aperture for large telescopes, a mosaic of large transmission mode filters is placed in front of the telescope or at the aperture of the dome. Filtering options for effective rejection of sunlight include a smaller filter down-path near the focus of the...

Three device improvements have been developed that dramatically enhance the contrast ratio of microshutters. The goal of a microshutter is to allow as much light through as possible when the shutters are in the open configuration, and preventing any light from passing through...

The silicon substrate carrier was created so that a large-area array (in this case 62,000+ elements of a microshutter array) and a variety of discrete passive and active devices could be mounted on a single board, similar to a printed circuit board. However, the density and...

Developed for the GLAST project, which is now the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, GlastCam software ingests telemetry from the Integrated Test and Operations System (ITOS) and generates four graphical displays of geometric properties in real time, allowing visual assessment of the...

Cylindrical optics module assembly machines ABTech Swanzey, NH 603-358-6431 www.abtechmfg.com ABTech has completed the first of two cylindrical optics module assembly machines for Columbia University’s Nevis Astrophysics Laboratory. The multi-axis air bearing machine platforms are...

Charge coupled device (CCD) imaging sensors e2v Chelmsford, UK 44 (0)1245 493493 www.e2v.com e2v CCD imaging sensors were launched recently on the Space Shuttle Atlantis as part of a mission to upgrade and repair the Hubble Space Telescope. The imaging sensors equip the Wide Field Camera 3...